The Forgotten Giant

In 1973, a new species of the family Carcharodontousaridae was described by Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming. A medium sized theropod, it measured roughly 30 feet long. It was given the name Kelmayisaurus Petrolicus. It was known from skull fragments including a lower jaw and maxilla, along with a possible vertebrae. Not the largest theropod, but not small. In 1993, however, a possible second species of Kelmayisaurus was found based on an enourmous vertebral column: Kelmayisaurus Gigantus. It's vertebrae we're nearly identical to that of the smaller species, just scaled up. At an estimated 22 meters (72 feet), it would have dwarfed even the largest Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus, which measured up to 18 meters (59 feet). [img]http://members.wavenet.at/lambeo/dino/grosse_theropoden.PNG[/img] With a build similar to Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus, it would have been the largest carnivore not only of the Cretacious, but perhaps ever. However, the vertebrae, despite being theropod in nature, were dismissed as that of a sauropod and never given a second look. " Why?", you might ask. Well, it could be because its name wasn't catchy enough to attract attention back to it, maybe it's because remains are rare, maybe it's because the vertebrae of the smaller species was lost, or perhaps it's simply because theropods couldn't get that big... Right? [img]http://oi53.tinypic.com/350q54i.jpg[/img]