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 |
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).
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