Sigilmassasaurus siːjihl-mɑːsuh-SƆːRUHS
"Etymology TBD"
- Length
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (99–94 Mya)
- Place
- Africa · Egypt
- Food
- Piscivore (fish-eater)
Sigilmassasaurus ( ; “Sijilmassa lizard”) is a controversial genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived approximately 100 to 94 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period in what is now northern Africa. Named in 1996 by Canadian paleontologist Dale Russell, it contains a single species, Sigilmassasaurus brevicollis. The identity of the genus has been debated by scientists, with some considering its fossils to represent material from the closely related species Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, while others have classified it as a separate taxon, forming the clade Spinosaurini with Spinosaurus as its sister taxon.
Sigilmassasaurus was a moderately-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, like most other theropods. It may have had strong neck musculature as evidenced by the morphology of its vertebrae (backbones).
What we know
- Named by Russell, 1996.
- Fossils found in Africa and Egypt.