Top 10 largest theropods

Well, I was a tad surprised that Spino made number 1 after the new finds, but, you have brought up some valid points. Interesting as with everything else you post Carno. 

Nice, quite agreeable.

Believe it or not, that suprised me a quite a bit too. I guess the semi quadrupedal/ semi aquatic lifestyle this thing lived offered it the grand oppurtunity to become more massive, as we all know water bound animals hae room to become a great deal heavier then their terrestrial counterparts - for example the whales. Even crocodile species for example; the more aquaticly bound species tend to be the more massive ones.

There's some new faces on that list, i'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

Are you gonna make top 10 lists all the time?

eh, That's not really my thing...

but, i've kicked around a few idea mainly;

Top 10 largest Ceratopsians

Top 10 largest Stegosaurs

Top 5 largest Dromaeosaurs..

...stuff like that

Very cool list, I find it pretty easy to agree with. Looking forward to other future top 10s from you.

Cool list Suprised at Spino, but the reasoning makes sense

eh, i don't get why some thought because it was semi-quadrupedal meant it weighed significantly less, the papers and new reconstructions don't suggest that at all..

Glad you liked it :) it's good to be back

CARNOSAUR - How very neat! I definately enjoyed the entires on your list. With regards to Spinosaurus, I must say that it's become one of my top favorite theropods ever since its revision. The semi-quadrupedal stance is, in my opinion, quite fascinating! The creature now strikes me as something of an ancient sea-serpent! Thank you ever so much for sharing this with us! :)

Awsome list, didnt expect the spino at first with all the people claiming it at 4 tons or less :p But does this weight mean the spino is really sluggish on land, I really cant imagine the new spino running! :3

Why don't people expect spino to be first?

Loving this list, especially with Spinosaurus on top.  Before it's revision I guestimated it to weigh between 7-8 tons, but with the new information, the increased weight range makes sense.  (Semi) aquatic creatures do weigh more, and the water works as a great support of its mass.  

Nice list! Im happy Spino is still the largest. :)

IKR. It is semi aquatic wich means it would have extra support for his weight. 4 tons is utterly ridiculous for an animal of its size . Why do people even say that. It was a bout 9 to 11 tons on my books because the water could support the weight.

I would agree on everything on this list, however, there is one problem I have with it, and it belongs to #1, Spinosaurus. At the museum I've checked out exclusive pictures of the bones, and although it still belongs in at least the top 5, if not 3, it was not 12 tons in weight. Rather, 6-8.45 tons. The ribs and hips are the biggest tell-tale for this, the hips and legs (dense as they were) would take some serious, unrealistic musculature to hold up a body of that weight. Secondly, the ribs did not extend "outwards" which would show us  a weight such as you have suggested. Instead they "curved" backwards, near barely distended, and more stream-lined. It was more built like modern gharials, who have surprisingly thin, shrunken skeletons. Not quite like a Nile Crocodile. I believe it should be tied with Tyrannosaurus for the #1 slot. Still a bump up in size, just not so greatly so.

Interesting PK. 

Off topic, I can't help but snicker because prior to this new discovery about Spino, someone said Spino was the most land based Spinosaur of them all. Now, after this discovery, not so much. 

PRIMAL KING - I happen to agree with your assessment. A dissertation forwarded by one nof National Geographic's foremost paleontological groups recently stated that Spinosaurus' wait was likely between seven and nine tons - which reflects the small size of its hind limbs and the lighter mass of its torso. Of course, this is pure speculation; that animal could have weighed upwards of 15 tons for all we know! However, it stands to reason that a weight of roughly 7.5 or so tons is most accurate. :)

The reason a croc weighs more then a lion is because of sheer physical size.

Yeah, Tyrant's right on this one. A lion isn't exactly 17 feet long, is it? And you should've scaled up a gharial, whose build is much more slender and Spino-like than a Nile or Saltwater crocs. That would lead to a 6.85 ton croc. So adding the extra weight Spino was packing, and that is an 8-9 ton animal.

If I had a mic, I'd drop it. *leaves room.

So are you thinking they look like giant bipedal gahrials? Gahrials are very slender and have pencil thin jaws. spinosaurus did not have jaws THAT thin. I think it would have been bulky, not as bulky as say a croc but as bulky as a alligator.

I never said jaws, did I? I said build. As in the build was very thin overall. The jaw ends (maxilla and premaxilla) were actually similar to gharials, and I have seen spinosaur skull replicas where I work, so don't even try me there. However, the skull base was more caiman like. Definitely not Alligator like, who have stronger bites and are more robust than even Nile Crocodiles. So, the caiman doesn't have robust, heavily built jaws like Crocs or Alligators, but their jaws are more robust than gharials. But Spinosaurus definitely were not Nile crocodile robust.

when you say ends do you mean the tips. Cause I was talking about the whole jaws. They were not bulky like crocs or gators but hy hey were bulkier then gahrials.

The actual snout. You have to admit there is a resemblance. The entire skull, no, but the snouts, yes.

Yes, it does resemble a gahrial. But the body/skull doesn't.

Saltwater croc male average: 4.3 meters; 550 lbs

African Lion male Average: 1.86 meters; 386 lbs

Saltwater croc male maximum: 6.7 meters; 1.2 tons

African male lion maximum: 2.4 meters; 418 lbs

African lions are more robust at parity sizes, yet the Crocodile weighs more.  and at maximum sizes, it completely blows the lion out of the water. And that's simply due in part to it's semiaquatic adaptations, such as the lacking of marrow cavities in the bones, Densely packed bones, etc.

Saltwater crocs are a good analogy for Spinosaurus because of jaw morphology and the "barrel chest" they're given with their recurved ribs. But i'll bite..

the average male gharial( false gharial as well) is ~2.8 meters in length, and has a weight of 1,100 lbs, which is large by crocodilian standards.

Your upscaling is a little bit off, not by much, but still there's a percentage of error there.

Scaling the 2.8 meter male False Gharial yields ~7.389 tons(7.4 rounding up) You appear to be underestimating the size of this gharial species. As for your caiman comparison..

Caiman species, despite common belief, can be quite large. Spectacled caiman average 2.5meters in length...and a maximum length for a big male would be 3.2 meters. The Black caiman, the largest species alive today, rivals the size of the Saltwater crocodile, with big adults easily surpassing 5 meters. So that croc upscaling i did up there ^ would be rather similar.

So, even with that small discrepancy, A spinosaurus of equal size would weigh in the ballpark of 9-11 tons.

Wich is were I normally see it.

Carnosaur,

You need to revise a bit your list. Maganuco has actually estimated the new, adult Spinosaurus at 6-7 tonnes. So Spinosaurus is no longer the very biggest but clearly still one of the biggest.

I dont think Celeste has been scientifically estimated in size.

My point is they DID NOT have a barrel chest. That's what I'm saying. And I'm not saying to size off of caimans, I was telling him the the skull base is similar. As for the gharial reference, around the same size as I was going off of averages not maximums. I work at our state AZA approved zoo. (along with at the dinosaur museum here. Biggest dinosaur museum in North America.) However, it still is 7-8 tons, not 9-11. The only "heavy part of Spinosaurus was its very dense legs and hips, which (according to my calculations) contribute for about a fifth the total weight. Still not Tyrannosaur sized, I'm afraid. 

If I had a mic, I'd drop it. Sorry for posting so late.