Dinosaurs · Large theropod

Acrocanthosaurus

Say it ah-kroh-kan-tho-SORE-us. The name means ‘high-spined lizard’.

Acrocanthosaurus beside a person 1.75 m tall. Ticks mark every metre.Body shape drawn for this site, showing the general build of large theropods

Length: 12 m
Diet: Meat-eater
When: Early Cretaceous115 to 105 million years ago
Fossils found in: USA
Named by: Stovall and Langston (1950)
Family tree: Dinosauria › Saurischia › Theropoda › Carcharodontosauridae

Where Acrocanthosaurus sits in the age of dinosaurs.Periods from the ICS chart; dinosaur dates from the Natural History Museum

Large theropods. Big two-legged meat-eaters, such as Tyrannosaurus. See all 63

Lived at the same time

Sauropelta · same country
Deinonychus · same country
Nodosaurus · same country
Tenontosaurus · same country
Zephyrosaurus · same country
Aquilops · same country
Silvisaurus · same country
Archaeoceratops

Other large theropods

Irritator Early Cretaceous
Fukuiraptor Early Cretaceous
Suchomimus Early Cretaceous
Baryonyx Early Cretaceous
Yutyrannus Early Cretaceous
Eotyrannus Early Cretaceous
Neovenator Early Cretaceous
Tyrannotitan Early Cretaceous

Source: Acrocanthosaurus in the Natural History Museum Dino Directory, read 12 November 2026. Sizes are the museum's estimates for a typical adult. "Lived at the same time" lists dinosaurs whose dates overlap, which does not always mean they met.