Dinosaurs A to Z
Carcharodontosauridae

Acrocanthosaurus akroh-kanthuh-SƆːRUHS

"high-spined lizard"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Acrocanthosaurus 12 m (38 ft) long
as long as 7 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Acrocanthosaurus
Length
12 m (38 ft)
Period
Early Cretaceous (125–99.6 Mya)
Place
North America · Wyoming, USA
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Carcharodontosauridae

Acrocanthosaurus ( ; “high-spined lizard”) is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaurs that existed in what is now North America during the Barremian and early Cenomanian stages of the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous, from 125 to 99.6 million years ago. Like most dinosaur genera, Acrocanthosaurus contains only a single species, A. atokensis. It had a continent-wide range, with fossil remains known from the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming in the west and Maryland in the east. However, most of these remains are assigned to the species based on the assumption that Acrocanthosaurus is the only large carcharodontosaurid from North America during this time, and the possibility exists that some referred specimens could represent distinct taxa.

Acrocanthosaurus was a bipedal predator.

What we know

  • Named by Stovall & Langston, 1950.
  • Body length estimated at about 11.5 m.
  • Fossils found in North America and Wyoming, USA.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Acrocanthosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.