Gigantosaurus

Giganotosaurus ( " giant lizard ") is a little known sauropod dinosaur from the present-day England, which belongs to the herbivorous Brachiosauridae and thus one of the largest land animals of the earth's history. However, the validity of the rule laid down by Harry Govier Seeley in 1869 genus is doubtful ( noun dubium ), because the related species are now attributed to other Sauropodengattungen.

Giganotosaurus was as big as the African Brachiosaurus and thus the largest dinosaur in Europe, with up to 30 meters in length. The skin could have been covered with small, hexagonal platelets. Its fossils have been found in deposits of the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous.

All fossils found so far, which served as the basis of the respective species description of the genus Gigantosaurus were identified as remnants of representatives of other genera and species assigned accordingly.

• Gigantosaurus africanus (E. Fraas, 1908) is now africanus Barosaurus
• Gigantosaurus dixeyi ( Haughton, 1928) is now Malawisaurus dixeyi
• Gigantosaurus Megalonyx ( Seeley, 1869) is now Pelorosaurus humerocristatus
• Gigantosaurus robustus (E. Fraas, 1908) is now Janenschia robusta

The name Gigantosaurus is often confused with the similar sounding Giganotosaurus, a huge carnivorous dinosaurs.