Irritator challengeri

The fossil consisting of the posterior part of the skull was badly damaged and artificially lengthened with plaster to make it look like more complete by amateur fossil hunters, thus the name. The fossil Angaturama limai from the same formation and consisting of the anterior portion of the skull curiously complementary to the Irritator fossil is probably a synonym and may even belong to the same original specimen. This spinosaurid from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil, related to the North African Spinosaurus but much smaller, was characterized by an unusually narrow skull.

Name

Irritator challengeri

Authority

Martill, Cruikshank, Frey, Small & Clarke, 1996

Meaning of generic name

Irritator

[Meaning of specific name

of "Challenger" or "of a challenger"

Meaning - possibly - of name

Posing an irritating challenge]

Size

Length: 7-8 m

Remains

Partial skull

Age and Distribution

Romualdo Member of the Santana Formation (Albian), Chapada do Araripe, northeastern Brazil. .

Classification

Dinosauria Saurischia Theropoda Spinosauroidea Spinosauridae

Further Reading

D. M. Martill, A. R. I. Cruickshank, E. Frey, P. G. Small, and M. Clarke. 1996. A new crested maniraptoran dinosaur from the Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Brazil. Journal of the Geological Society, London 153:5-8.

Sues, H.-D., Frey, E., Martill, D. M., and Scott, D. M., 2002, Irritator challengeri, a spinosaurid (Dinosauria: theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 22, n. 3, p. 535-547.

Synonyms

Angaturama limai Kellner and Campos, 1996

Image by Nobu Tamura (click to enlarge)

Irritator challengeri: