Deltadromeus
Name: »delta runner«
Length: 8.1 – 13.3 m
Height: 2.4 m
Weight: 3.5 tons
Diet: carnivore
Time: Cretaceous (95 MYA)
Location: North Africa
Dinosaur stuff
Deltadromeus (meaning “delta runner”) is a genus of theropod dinosaur from Northern Africa. This carnivore had long, unusually slender hind limbs for its size, suggesting that it was a swift runner. It lived in the late Cretaceous Period, about 95 million years ago. It may have been one of the longest carnivorous dinosaurs, with one unpublished survey indicating that a referred partial specimen could represent an individual that was around 13.3 meters (44 ft) long, though it would have weighed only an estimated 3.5 tons, making it more slender than the giant carnosaurs. The more complete holotype specimen measured an estimated 8.1 m (26.5 ft) long.
Deltadromeus skeletons have been found with those of the carnosaur Carcharodontosaurus, and it may have lived alongside the even larger Spinosaurus. The specific name D. agilis, meaning “swift delta runner”, comes from the fact that this species had adaptations for running, and that its remains were found in a fossilized river delta. Deltadromeus was originally described as a large coelurosaur, but more recent studies suggest it was actually a ceratosaur, possibly a gigantic member of the noasaurid family.
Deltadromeus may be a junior synonym of Bahariasaurus.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Superfamily: Abelisauroidea?
Family: Noasauridae?
Genus: Deltadromeus
Species: D. agilis Sereno, 1996
