Concavenator is a carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Spain. It was named in 2010 by Francisco Ortega, Fernando Escaso, and José Luis Sanz. It was one of the most unique carcharodontosaurs to live, notable for its mysterious hump.
Physiology[]
Concavenator had a body plan similar to other carcharodontosaurs; it was a theropod with a semi-bulky body, moderately long legs, moderately long arms, a long tail, a moderately long neck, a large head with a mouth containing lots of big teeth. However, what set it apart from other carcharodontosaurs was the large, triangular, fin-like hump on its back. Its body would have been covered in scaly skin.
Diet[]
Concavenator was a predator, preying on small mammals and smaller theropods. Its teeth had knife-like serrations from back to back, and were used to slice off pieces of flesh from the bodies of large prey.
Ecology[]
So far, all we know about Concavenator is that while it was the apex predator of the forested environment it lived in, and while it did have sharp, serrated teeth, it probably might not have bitten large chunks of flesh off the bodies of prey, as everything in its environment was either small enough to have been swiftly subdued with a bite (like Pelecanimimus) or simply too big to hunt (like Iguanodon); as well as this, the large, fin-like hump on its back may have served a similar purpose to that of the crests on top of the heads of many other theropods, with that specific purpose being display.