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Irritator is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in the early Cretaceous Period (Albian stage), around 110 million years ago.

 

Current estimations indicate a length of 8 meters (26 feet) and a height of 3 meters (9 feet). It was found in Brazil. Irritator was a theropod with an unusually shaped crest at the rear of its head, and probably ate fish.

 

So far the only fossil that has been found was an 80 centimeter long fossil skull in the Romualdo Member, a layer member of the Brazilian Santana formation. This skull strongly resembles the skulls of Suchomimus and Spinosaurus. The genus is often regarded today as identical (synonymous) with Angaturama, which lived in the same time and the same place as Irritator.

 

Irritator was first scientifically described in 1996 by paleontologists Martill, Cruikshank, Frey, Small and Clarke. Its only known fossil, an 80cm skull discovered in eastern Brazil, was badly obscured by plaster which was added by the commercial fossil-collecting amateurs who discovered it, and illegally sold it, since the trade of fossils is prohibited by law in Brazil, in hopes of making the fossil look more complete and valuable. It required a great deal of work to reconstruct the original features — hence the name.

 

It is probably synonymous with Angaturama limai, another spinosaurid from the same time and place, whose remains curiously seem to complete Irritator's skull, meaning that they could belong to the same specimen.

 

Material of I. challengeri, not counting that of A. limai, hails from the Romualdo Member of the Santana Formation in Brazil. The holotype is SMNS 58022, from the Stuttgart State Museum of the Natural Sciences, and it consists of an incomplete skull, lacking the anterior (front) portion.

 

The skull was recovered nearly complete and is considered the most complete head find of a Spinosaurid. It is characterized particularly by its unusual length and curved lip region, which is strongly compressed laterally. The overall length of the complete head is estimated at approximately 84 centimeters. It possesses a clear Sagittal crest; such a comb is found also with some other dinosaurs. The teeth exhibit a single embedding of the strongly extended and straight teeth with conical tooth crowns, which indicates a continual tooth change, as new teeth were pushed up between the old ones. The teeth exhibit lengths from 6 to approximately 40 millimeters.

 

In the year 2004 parts of a spinal column were discovered in the Santana Formation. These have been assigned, due to their structure, to the Spinosauridae. With very high probability these fossils belong to Irritator, since this is the so far the only so far well-known Spinosaurid of the formation.

 

Sorry I couldn't make the sail smaller so i left it as is :D


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