Irritator
- Length
- 8 m (26.2 ft)
- Period
- Early Cretaceous (113–110 Mya)
- Place
- Brazil · Germany
- Food
- Piscivore (fish-eater)
- Clade
- Spinosauridae Dinosauria Saurischia Theropoda Crocodile-snouted fish-eaters with sail or hump.
Irritator is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what is now Brazil during the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous Period, about 113 to 110 million years ago. It is known from a nearly complete skull found in the Romualdo Formation of the Araripe Basin. Fossil dealers had acquired this skull and sold it to the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart. It was the subject of an ongoing international restitution dispute between Germany and Brazil, until its return to Brazil in 2026. In 1996, the specimen became the holotype of the type species Irritator challengeri. The genus name comes from the word “irritation”, reflecting the feelings of paleontologists who found the skull had been heavily damaged and altered by the collectors. The species name is a homage to the fictional character Professor Challenger from Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels.
What we know
- Named by Martill et al., 1996.
- Body length estimated at about 8 m.
- Fossils found in Brazil and Germany.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Irritator — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.