Carcharodontosaurus fossil map
Where fossils of Carcharodontosaurus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 100 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 100 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Theropods |
|---|---|
| Lived | 143.1–72.2 million years ago (Berriasian to Campanian) |
| Periods | Cretaceous |
| Family | Carcharodontosauridae |
| Named by | (Stromer 1931) |
| Fossil records | 44 occurrences at 41 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Algeria, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia, Egypt, Brazil |
| Rock formations | Continental Intercalaire, Ifezouane, txn:65363, Aïn el Guettar, Elrhaz, Echkar |
About Carcharodontosaurus
Carcharodontosaurus (; "shark-toothed lizard") is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived in Northwest Africa from about 100 to 94 million years ago during the Cenomanian age of the late Cretaceous period. The genus was first described in 1925 by French paleontologists Charles Depéret and Justin Savornin as Megalosaurus saharicus, based on two fossil teeth discovered in Algeria, which are now lost. A partial skeleton was discovered in Egypt as early as 1914 by crews of German paleontologist Ernst Stromer, although he did not report the find until 1931. Based on this specimen as well as the teeth previously described by Depéret and Savornin, Stromer established the genus Carcharodontosaurus, with C. saharicus as the only species. Although the Egyptian skeleton was destroyed during World War II, it was redescribed as a closely related but distinct genus, Tameryraptor, based on historical photographs in 2025. In 1995, a large incomplete skull attributed to C. saharicus was discovered in the Kem Kem Beds of Morocco, which was officially proposed as the neotype (specimen the species is based on) in 2007. In the same year, fossils unearthed from the Farak Formation of Niger were described and named as another species, C. iguidensis, though this taxon might belong to a different genus.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Carcharodontosaurus (revision 1380320007), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 22 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in.
