Meraxes
Name: Meraxes
(after a dragon from A song of Ice and Fire fantasy series).
Phonetic: Me-rak-is
Named By: Juan I. Canale, Sebasti�n Apestegu�a,
Pablo A. Gallina, Jonathan Mitchell, Nathan D. Smith, Thomas
M. Cullen, Akiko Shinya, Alejandro Haluza, Federico A.
Gianechini & Peter J. Makovicky - 2022.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Theropoda, Carcharodontosauridae, Giganotosaurini.
Species: M. gigas. (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Skull estimated at 1.27 meters long.
Full body size for holotype individual estimated to be over nine
meters long.
Known locations: Argentina - Huincul Formation.
Time period: Early Cenomanian to Late Turonian of
the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Almost complete skull and
partial post cranial skeleton.
Every
so often a dinosaur is discovered that makes people sit up and take
notice, and arguably in 2022 that dinosaur was Meraxes. This is
because the Meraxes genus has a number of accolades
to its name.
First is that at the time of its naming in 2022, Meraxes
is the
most completely known carcharodontosaurid
theropod dinosaur so far
discovered in the Southern hemisphere. The size of the holotype
individual’s skull is also comparable to the largest known members of
the Carcharodontosauridae, with a reconstructed body length for the
holotype individual of Meraxes being well over nine
meters.
Further,
study of the holotypes bones suggest that this individual dinosaur was
about fifty-three years old at the time if its death. This would make
this individual one of the oldest known dinosaurs, certainly one of
the oldest large theropod dinosaurs. Bone Analysis also suggests that
the holotype individual did not reach skeletal maturity (i.e. stop
physically growing) until about four years prior to its death.
While much of the skeleton of Meraxes is still
incomplete, what is
known does bear a similarity to Acrocanthosaurus,
a
carcharodontosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of North
America.
Meraxes
was named after a dragon that features in the A Song of Ice and Fire
stories (that would be adapted to the television series Game of
Thrones). However, Meraxes is not the first
prehistoric animal to
have a name derived from A Song of Ice and Fire. The pterosaur
Targaryendraco
also had its name inspired by the series.
Further reading
- New giant carnivorous dinosaur reveals convergent evolutionary
trends in theropod arm reduction. - Current Biology - Juan I.
Canale, Sebasti�n Apestegu�a, Pablo A. Gallina, Jonathan
Mitchell, Nathan D. Smith, Thomas M. Cullen, Akiko Shinya,
Alejandro Haluza, Federico A. Gianechini & Peter J.
Makovicky - 2022.
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