| Name: Irritator challengeri Etymology: (You can probably guess already...) From the English word 'irritation', "...the feeling the authors felt (understated here) when discovering that the snout had been artificially elongated..." (Martill et al., 2006); and after Professor Challenger from Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle's Lost World Distribution: Early or mid Cretaceous (Aptian, Albian, or Cenomanian, not yet confirmed) of Brazil Type Specimen: Almost complete skull Estimated size: Approximately 8 m in length |  |
Interesting fact: I. challengeri 'irritating' due to fabrication of parts of skull
I feel sorry for this spinosaurid, now forever known as an irritating challenge because some idiot fossil poachers wanted to 'enhance' the length of the skull to make an extra buck. The authors discovered this after conducting a CAT scan:
CAT scan imaging revealed that the tip of the rostrum (snout) had been artificially reconstructed to increase its length by reassembly of portions of the maxilla on to the premaxilla. This fabrication was concealed by blocks of matrix removed from other parts of the specimen and a thick layer of IsoponTM car body filler (Martill et al., 1996).
Sacrilege! But there was at least some good news, as I. challengeri was the first ever the non-avian maniraptoran described from the Cretaceous of South America, and the most complete spinosaurid skull ever found (even sans car body filler). As Cretaceous non-avian maniraptorans had only previously been found in North America and Asia, this suggested that there was an ancient land link between these regions and South America, possibly through Africa. So the irritation was well worth it, in the end!
Simplified cladogram of all non-avian dinosaurs. I. challengeri was a spinosaurid, within theropoda.
References
Martill, D. M., Cruickshank, A. R. I., Frey, E., Small, P. G., and Clarke, M. 1996. A new crested maniraptoran dinosaur from the Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Brazil. Journal of the Geological Society, London 153:5-8
Sues, H. D., Frey, E., Martill, D. and Scott, D. 2002. Irritator challengeri, a spinosaurid (Dinosauria; Theropoda) from the early Cretaceous of Brazil. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22 (3): 535 - 547
Martill, D. M., Cruickshank, A. R. I., Frey, E., Small, P. G., and Clarke, M. 1996. A new crested maniraptoran dinosaur from the Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Brazil. Journal of the Geological Society, London 153:5-8
Sues, H. D., Frey, E., Martill, D. and Scott, D. 2002. Irritator challengeri, a spinosaurid (Dinosauria; Theropoda) from the early Cretaceous of Brazil. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22 (3): 535 - 547
