Veterupristisaurus

Veterupristisaurus is an extinct genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur known from the Jurassic of Tendaguru, southeastern Tanzania.
Discovery and naming.
"Veterupristisaurus" is known from the holotype specimen MB R 1938, an isolated middle caudal vertebra. Two partially fused posterior middle caudal vertebrae, MB R 2166, from the same locality as the holotype, are referred to this genus and most probably came from the same individual. The anterior caudal vertebra, MB R 1940, may also represent this genus. The holotype was collected in the St (EH) locality of the Tendaguru in German East Africa, from the Middle Dinosaur Member of the Tendaguru Formation, dating to the late Kimmeridgian to earliest Tithonian faunal stage of the Late Jurassic, about 154-150 million years ago. The holotype was originally referred to "Ceratosaurus? roechlingi" by Werner Janensch in 1925.
"Veterupristisaurus" was named by Oliver W. M. Rauhut in 2011 and the type species is "Veterupristisaurus milneri". The generic name translates as "old shark lizard". It refers to the fact that "Veterupristisaurus" is currently the oldest known representative of the "shark-toothed lizards", the carcharodontosaurids. The specific name honours the paleontologist Angela C. Milner.
Description.
"Veterupristisaurus" was a large bipedal animal. The length of the holotype vertebra is about , thus "Veterupristisaurus" has been estimated to have been about - in length, rivalling the coexisting "Torvosaurus" "ingens", based on the more complete and closely related "Acrocanthosaurus". There are teeth from Tendaguru Formation that probably come from it. In 2016 based on these teeth from the (MBHUK R6758) specimen of Tanzania that probably refers to the same species Molina-Pérez and Larramendi gave a length of 12.6 meters (41.3 feet) and a weight of 6.4 tonnes (7 short tons). Whether the individual represented by the holotype represents an adult individual cannot be determined based on the available material. It is diagnosed by a spinoprezygapophyseal lamina in the middle caudal vertebrae extending anteriorly to the midwidth of the base of the prezygapophysis and being flanked laterally by a short, parallel lamina extending from the lateral margin of the prezygapophysis posteriorly. Thus, Rauhut considered a sister-group relationship between "Veterupristisaurus" and "Acrocanthosaurus" within the Carcharodontosauridae.