Outline: a typical theropod
Eocarcharia
"dawn shark"
Type species Eocarcharia dinops
- Lived
- 121 to 101 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Carcharodontosauridae
- Found in
- Niger
- Named by
- Sereno and Brusatte 2008
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
110 million years ago
Field notes
About Eocarcharia
What it was like
Eocarcharia was a two-legged meat eater known only from parts of its skull and some teeth. It had a thick bony brow over each eye.
It was first described as an early relative of Carcharodontosaurus, but some scientists now think its bones come from more than one animal, with part of it belonging to a spinosaurid instead.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous, about 121 to 101 million years ago, in what is now Niger. Its fossils come from the Elrhaz Formation, a land of rivers where Suchomimus, Nigersaurus and Ouranosaurus also lived.
How it was found
Sereno and Brusatte named Eocarcharia in 2008. The type species is Eocarcharia dinops. Only one find is known.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Carcharodontosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: P. C. Sereno and S. L. Brusatte. 2008. Basal abelisaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods from the Lower Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation of Niger. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53(1):15-46