Erectopus

Erectopus was a medium-sized predatory theropod from the Early Cretaceous of what is now northeastern France. Known largely from limb bones including a maxilla, femur, and partial foot, it was initially described in the late nineteenth century and later placed in its own genus by Friedrich von Huene. Measuring roughly four to five metres long, it would have been an agile bipedal hunter preying on smaller dinosaurs and other vertebrates. Anatomical studies place it near the base of the carcharodontosaurian lineage, making it a distant relative of giant Cretaceous predators like Acrocanthosaurus. The original fossil material was feared destroyed during the Second World War but was rediscovered decades later in Paris, allowing researchers to re-evaluate its evolutionary significance within European theropod faunas.

Its fossils were thought lost after World War II until rediscovered in a private collection in the 1990s.

Where and when

Erectopus lived in the Early Cretaceous, from 113 to 100.5 million years ago (Albian age). Its remains come from France, in the Sables verts.

The numbers

Length 4.5 m (estimates run from 4 to 5 m). Mass about 280 kg. Hip height about 1.4 m. That is 2.6 human-lengths, or 0.4 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from fragmentary remains; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, first ma, last ma, hip height.

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