Open Paleo

Baryonychinae

Charig & Milner, 1986 Type genus Baryonyx

Its genera lived 137.1–100.5 million years ago Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Baryonychinae is a subfamily of spinosaurid dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of Europe and West Africa, including Baryonyx, Suchomimus, and their relatives, along with the tribe Ceratosuchopsini of Ceratosuchops, Riparovenator and Suchomimus, named by Barker and colleagues (2021). Its members were large, bipedal predators with elongated, crocodile-like skulls whose jaw tips fanned out into rosettes of conical teeth, and robust forelimbs bearing three-fingered hands with a greatly enlarged first-finger claw. Unlike the more derived spinosaurines, baryonychines had only low sails along the back or none at all, and they were on average somewhat smaller. Their small, recurved teeth show little to no serration and resemble those of crocodiles, an arrangement generally read as an adaptation for catching fish, though at least one well-preserved member also fed opportunistically on other prey. It is usually recovered as the sister group of Spinosaurinae (Barker and colleagues, 2021), but its monophyly is contested, with some analyses interpreting it instead as a grade of successive outgroups united by plesiomorphic serrated teeth.

Under dispute

Baryonychinae is recovered as a monophyletic clade (Baryonyx, Suchomimus and relatives) by most analyses (Carrano and colleagues, 2012; Barker and colleagues, 2021; Rauhut and colleagues, 2025), and as Baryonyx plus Suchomimus once unstable taxa are pruned (Isasmendi and colleagues, 2024), but Sales and Schultz (2017) argue it is paraphyletic — a series of successive outgroups to Spinosaurinae unified by plesiomorphic serrated teeth — and Barker and colleagues (2021) could not statistically reject that alternative.

Genera placed directly in Baryonychinae

  • Baryonyx Charig & Milner, 1986 Barremian (125.8–121.4 Ma)United Kingdom
  • Ceratosuchops Barker et al., 2021 Barremian (125.8–121.4 Ma)United Kingdomunder dispute
  • Protathlitis Disputed Santos-Cubedo et al., 2023 Barremian (125.8–121.4 Ma)Spain
  • Riparovenator Disputed Barker et al., 2021 Barremian (125.8–121.4 Ma)United Kingdom
  • Suchomimus Sereno et al., 1998 Aptian–Albian (121.4–100.5 Ma)Niger
  • Suchosaurus Nomen dubium Owen, 1842 Valanginian (137.1–132.6 Ma)United Kingdomunder dispute

References

  1. Charig, A. J.; Milner, A. C. (1986). Baryonyx, a remarkable new theropod dinosaur. Nature 324(6095): 359-361. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/324359a0

    Named the family Baryonychidae, from which the subfamily Baryonychinae takes its authorship by coordination.

    charig1986a
  2. Sereno, P. C.; Beck, A. L.; Dutheil, D. B.; Gado, B.; Larsson, H. C. E.; Lyon, G. H.; Marcot, J. D.; Rauhut, O. W. M.; Sadleir, R. W.; Sidor, C. A.; Varricchio, D. D.; Wilson, G. P.; Wilson, J. A. (1998). A Long-Snouted Predatory Dinosaur from Africa and the Evolution of Spinosaurids. Science 282(5392): 1298-1302. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi:10.1126/science.282.5392.1298 sereno1998b
  3. Carrano, M. T.; Benson, R. B. J.; Sampson, S. D. (2012). The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(2): 211-300. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.630927

    Recovered Baryonychinae as a monophyletic clade in its Tetanurae phylogeny.

    carrano2012a
  4. Barker, C. T.; Hone, D. W. E.; Naish, D.; Cau, A.; Lockwood, J. A. F.; Foster, B.; Clarkin, C. E.; Schneider, P.; Gostling, N. J. (2021). New spinosaurids from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous, UK) and the European origins of Spinosauridae. Scientific Reports 11(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97870-8

    Described Ceratosuchops and Riparovenator, named the tribe Ceratosuchopsini, and recovered Baryonychinae as the sister group of Spinosaurinae.

    barker2021a
  5. Isasmendi, E.; Cuesta, E.; Díaz-Martínez, I.; Company, J.; Sáez-Benito, P.; Viera, L. I.; Torices, A.; Pereda-Suberbiola, X. (2024). Increasing the theropod record of Europe: a new basal spinosaurid from the Enciso Group of the Cameros Basin (La Rioja, Spain). Evolutionary implications and palaeobiodiversity. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 202(3). Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad193

    Described Riojavenatrix; recovered Baryonychinae as Baryonyx plus Suchomimus once unstable taxa were pruned, and placed Riojavenatrix in it only under a constraint costing three steps.

    isasmendi2024a
  6. Rauhut, O. W. M.; Canudo, J. I.; Castanera, D. (2025). Revision of the theropod dinosaur Camarillasaurus cirugedae from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of Teruel province, Spain. Palaeontologia Electronica 28(3): 1-67. doi:10.26879/1543

    Camarillasaurus revision's phylogenetic analysis bears on Baryonychinae monophyly.

    rauhut2025a
  7. Sales, M. A. F.; Schultz, C. L. (2017). Spinosaur taxonomy and evolution of craniodental features: Evidence from Brazil. PLOS ONE 12(11): e0187070. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0187070

    Argued Baryonychinae is paraphyletic, a grade of outgroups to Spinosaurinae united by plesiomorphic serrated teeth

    sales2017a