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Baryonyx (/ ˌ b ær i ˈ ɒ n ɪ k s /) is a genus of theropod dinosaur which lived in the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous period, about 130–125 million years ago.The first skeleton was discovered in 1983 in the Smokejack Clay Pit, of Surrey, England, in sediments of the Weald Clay Formation, and became the holotype specimen of Baryonyx walkeri, named by palaeontologists Alan J ...
This was later confirmed in 1997 with the discovery of partially digested fish scales found in the Baryonyx holotype. [19] In 1998 Sereno and colleagues suggested the same dietary preference for Suchomimus , based on its elongated jaws, spoon-shaped terminal rosette, and long teeth reminiscent of those of piscivorous crocodilians. [ 1 ]
If these represent Baryonyx’s meal, the animal was, whether in this case a hunter, or a scavenger, an eater of more diverse fare than fish. [ 51 ] [ 67 ] [ 40 ] Moreover, there is a documented example of a spinosaurid having eaten a pterosaur , as one Irritator tooth was found lodged within the fossil vertebrae of an ornithocheirid pterosaur ...
Baryonyx was found with fish scales and bones from juvenile Iguanodon in its stomach, while a tooth embedded in a South American pterosaur bone suggests that spinosaurs occasionally preyed on pterosaurs, [60] but Spinosaurus was likely to have been a generalized and opportunistic predator, possibly a Cretaceous equivalent of large grizzly bears ...
Baryonyx was the first theropod dinosaur demonstrated to have been piscivorous (fish-eating), as evidenced by fish scales in the stomach region of the holotype specimen. It may also have been an active predator of larger prey and a scavenger, since it also contained bones of a juvenile Iguanodon .
Furthermore, some have been confirmed to be piscivorous through fossil evidence. This list includes specialist piscivores, such as Laganosuchus, as well as generalist predators, such as Baryonyx and Spinosaurus, found to have or assumed to have eaten fish. Specimen of Diplomystus swallowing another fish
A more generalist diet has also been proposed for spinosaurs, based on fossils such as the bones of a juvenile iguanodontid that was also found in the same Baryonyx specimen, an "Irritator" tooth embedded in the vertebrae of a pterosaur, and tooth crowns from Siamosaurus that were found in association with sauropod dinosaur bones. It is thus ...
Baryonyx: 1986 Weald Clay (Early Cretaceous, Barremian) England: One specimen was found with the remains of fish and a juvenile iguanodont in its stomach, suggesting it was a generalist predator [10] Betasuchus: 1932 Maastricht Formation (Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian) Netherlands: The first terrestrial vertebrate named from the Maastrichtian ...