Cristatusaurus

Cristatusaurus Lapparenti is a dubious genus of theropoddinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceousperiod of what is now Niger, 112 million years ago. It was a baryonychine member of the Spinosauridae, a group of large bipedalcarnivores with well-built forelimbs and elongated, crocodile-like skulls. The type speciesCristatusaurus lapparenti was named in 1998 by scientists Philippe Taquet and Dale Russell, on the basis of jaw bones and some vertebrae. Two claw fossils were also later assigned to Cristatusaurus. The animal's generic name, which means "crested reptile", alludes to a non-existing and eroded sagittal crest on top of its snout; while the specific name is in honor of the French paleontologistAlbert-Félix de Lapparent. Cristatusaurus is known from the Albian to AptianElrhaz Formation, where it would have coexisted with sauropod and iguanodontian dinosaurs, other theropods, and various crocodylomorphs.

Originally proposed to be an indeterminate species of Baryonyx, the identity of Cristatusaurus has been subject to debate, in part due to the fragmentary and undiagnostic nature of its fossils. Some argue that it is probably the same dinosaur as Suchomimus, which has also been found in Niger, in the same sediment layers. In that case the genus Cristatusaurus would usually have priority, since it was named more than two months earlier. But that's not the case here since many have considered him undiagnostic to sink Suchomimus and have actually concluded that it is pretty dubious since he doesn't perseve actual autapomorphies to distnguish it from Suchomimus or Baryonyx and has been proposed to be a second species of Baryonyx as said in the start or a second Suchomimus species despite Cristatusaurus having priority .