Eocarcharia



Eocarcharia (meaning "dawn shark") is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation that lived in the Sahara 112 million years ago, in what today is the country of Niger. It was discovered in 2000 on an expedition led by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno. The type and only species is Eocarcharia dinops. Its teeth were shaped like blades and were used for disabling live prey and ripping apart body parts. Eocarcharia ’ s brow is swollen into a massive band of bone, giving it a menacing glare (leading to the specific name dinops or "fierce-eyed"). It may have reached lengths of 6 - 8 m.

Discovery
The type specimen MNN GAD2 consists of a maxilla, frontals and a prefrontal, teeth, as well as parietal and fragmentary left and right orbitosphenoids. Eocarcharia was described alongside the abelisaurid Kryptops. Some of the Kryptops remains were found to belong to a carcharodontosaurid. These remains may belong to Eocarcharia.

Paleoecology
In the Elrhaz Formation, dinosaurs that lived with Eocarcharia include theropods Kryptops palaios and Suchomimus tenerensis, sauropod Nigersaurus taqueti, and ornithopods Ouranosaurus nigeriensis, Lurdusaurus arenatus, and Elrhazosaurus nigeriensis.

Classification
In their 2022 description of the giant carcharodontosaurid Meraxes, Canale et al. recovered Eocarcharia as an early member of the clade, in a polytomy with Concavenator, Lajasvenator, and Lusovenator. The results of their phylogenetic analyses are displayed in the cladogram below:

In his 2024 review of theropod relationships, Cau included both the Eocarcharia holotype skull roof, as well as the referrred maxilla in a phylogenetic analysis. Both taxonomic units were not recovered in a monophyletic clade. His results are displayed in the cladogram below: