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sharp-clawed runner
Spinostropheus
Say it like this: “SPY-no-STROH-fee-us”
Spinostropheus gautieri
Spinostropheus ate meat and walked on two legs. It lived in the Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic. Bones have been found in Niger.
- When
- Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic (Bathonian · Callovian · Oxfordian) · roughly 168.2 to 154.8 million years ago
- Named in
- 2004 · Sereno, P. C.; Wilson, J. A.; Conrad, J. L.
- Hip height
- 1.7 m · 6 ft
- Length
- 4–6.2 m · 13–20 ft
- Weight
- 200 kg · 441 lb
- Found in
- Niger · Tiourarén
- Food and walking
- Carnivore · Two legs
- Kind
- sharp-clawed runner · Theropod
- Family branch
- Ceratosauria
The story in short
Spinostropheus was formally named in 2004 by P. C. Sereno and colleagues.
Fossils referred to Spinostropheus date to the Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic (Bathonian · Callovian · Oxfordian), roughly 168.2 to 154.8 million years ago. Finds come from Niger, including the Tiourarén Formation. It was a carnivore and walked on two legs.
Published estimates put Spinostropheus at a length near 4–6.2 m, hips about 1.7 m high, and a body mass around 200 kg.
On the family tree it sits in Ceratosauria, among the theropod dinosaurs.
Close relatives
Afromimus
Afromimus tenerensis
Early Cretaceous (Albian) · roughly 113.2 to 100.5 million years ago
Berberosaurus
Berberosaurus liassicus
Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian · Toarcian) · roughly 192.9 to 174.7 million years ago
Fosterovenator
Fosterovenator churei
Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian · Tithonian) · roughly 154.8 to 143.1 million years ago