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Description
A highly derived descend of the Spinosaurids that evolved into terrestrial ambush predators as their swamplands slowly disappeared, taking a very unique niche for a theropod.

Name: ArborSuchomimus (Tree Crocodile Mimic)
descendent of: Spinosaurinae Spinosaurid theropods
Size: 48ft long and 12 tons in weight
niche: large terrestrial ambush predator

on the surface ArborSuchomimus looks very similar in adaptations to Spinosaurus however under the skin is where the adaptions really shine. It’s metabolism is much slower and more akin to a crocodile to help it last longer periods without food and it’s neck vertebrae are designed to be able to lock into place, allowing it to keep its neck upright for days at a time. Another key feature of its neck is how it’s been modified to allow a great degree of sideways motion rather than the the preferred up and down motion of its ancestors, allowing it to strike down on prey from nearly any angle once it gets close to its head.

At first glance, the ArborSuchomimus isn’t incredibly interesting to watch compared to its ancestors, although it’s behaviour is very unique. ArborSuchomimus Isn’t particularly fast but will travel long distances to find a suitable forest to set up an ambush, knocking down trees if necessary before laying down with its head up, waiting for prey to come by. The mottled patterning, raggedy look and unusual scale texture gives the dinosaur the appearance of a fallen tree, this although unconvincing to some sharp eyed animals can fool unsuspecting prey, especially when the ArborSuchomimus has a habit of partly burring it’s limbs and obscure it’s body with fallen trees.

It’s eyes are noticeably larger than it’s ancestors and being similar to leaf tailed geckos, they are also camouflaged. These large eyes allow it greater vision most light levels allowing it to take advantage of every possible feeding opportunity. It’s ability to sense vibrations through the ground have also been increased aiding this massive predator in targeting its prey.

at 48ft long, ArborSuchomimus is a truly colossal predator and much like it’s relative the Spinosaurus there’s not a lot that’s too big for it’s jaws if it can catch it. Abelisaurids like Rugops, medium ornithopods, pterosaurs, juvenile Carcharodontosaurus and even other young members of its own species are all fair game. Once prey is in range it’s head strikes down at the helpless animal, sometimes targeting in front of the animal in an attempt to predict the movements of the more speedy prey (similar to tentacled snakes) before it’s robust jaws clamp down on it. It’s teeth, like all spinosaurids, are designed to pierce prey, giving the predator a good grip of its meal before it stands up to utilise it’s real killing weapons, it’s claws.

The force of the impact and subsequent bite of the ArborSuchomimus is enough to fatally injure most prey in itself, often breaking ribs and spines of anything unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of those jaws, but it still needs to turn prey into bite size chunks, which is where it’s arms come in. Much like other Spinosaurids, it’s powerful forelimbs are used both in defence and breaking food into more manageable chunks, unfortunately for it’s prey they are usually gutted while still alive and devoured by the hungry theropod.

Once it has ate as much as it can, if any scraps are left it will move to a different spot near the carcass and camouflage itself again. By doing this any scavengers that do come to claim the carcass for their own aren’t too suspicious of the tree several feet away from it, putting them in a false sense of security in hopes they will come in range of its deadly jaws.

such behaviour does attract many scavengers like Rugops, other medium sized theropods and even the odd pterosaur, however the smell can attract larger theropods such as Carcharodontosaurus on occasion, which they generally try to avoid getting its attention. Such interactions often end up being peacefully resolved, with the ArborSuchomimus remaining camouflaged while the Carcharodontosaurus, ether unaware or simply avoiding conflict has their fill and goes on their way, but physical conflicts can occur.

If an adult Carcharodontosaurus gets too close for comfort the ArborSuchomimus will quickly ditch its disguise and raises up in a defensive posture, claws held up in front of its chest and its head held much higher than the opposing theropod. In this position it’s an incredibly difficult for a Carcharodontosaurus to effectively attack, the neck is out of reach, aiming for its chest and belly is just going to get you slapped away and if you could somehow get behind it a bite to it’s back, it is not likely to be fatal due to the large neural spines getting in the way. Much like with its relative Spinosaurus such fights aren’t in the carcharodontosaurus’s favour and although scraps do occur it’s a rare occurrence often brought on by being desperate for food.

ArborSuchomimus is a unique member of Spinosauridae, one that ditched the semi piscavorious ways of its ancestors and took an experimental new direction. Such adaptations have never been seen on any other predator of this size and would yet to be seen, after the Spinosaurids left us with only fossils of the largest land carnivores the earth has ever seen. ArborSuchomimus was successful for a time and although it did last longer than most of its relatives, it’s hyper specialisations to it’s forest home would be its downfall, as Africa became more arid, its habitat shrunk until it was no more.

RIP ArborSuchomimus, the greatest ambush hunter that never existed.

(also this is where I talk about the behind the scene stuff)
the concept for this design came about when I was thinking about speculative evolutions for a spinosaurid and then realised how fully aquatic Spinosaurids are pretty much the go to for this type of thing. I’ve done it, you’ve done it, we’ve all done it! So I decided to take a different direction and have a completely terrestrial descendent of these Kaiju sized theropods.

The awkward thing about it is Spinosaurids do already hunt prey on land as well as aquatic prey, they are highly opportunistic hunters after all so I wanted to do something original, because otherwise it would just look like a big baryonyx with a slightly different head. Then I thought to myself, what if it was an ambush predator? Then the idea went on from there.

ambush predators have historically got impressively large before, wether it be the immense 38ft Sarcosuchus, 42ft Titanoboa and for a more modern example the 24ft Greenland shark. These very different animals with completely different lifestyles all share a few things in common, a slow metabolism, the ability to catch much faster prey using sudden bursts of speed, appearing unassuming or obscured at first glance to prey and are some of the largest/the largest of their respective families. All of which traits I gave to the ArborSuchomimus.

other adaptations that convergently evolved are it's leaf tail gecko like eyes and scales, tentacle snake like striking behaviour and bittern like patterning. All of which would require millions of years to evolve yet would make for one deadly ambush Hunter.

Description
A highly derived descend of the Spinosaurids that evolved into terrestrial ambush predators as their swamplands slowly disappeared, taking a very unique niche for a theropod.

Name: ArborSuchomimus (Tree Crocodile Mimic)
descendent of: Spinosaurinae Spinosaurid theropods
Size: 48ft long and 12 tons in weight
niche: large terrestrial ambush predator

on the surface ArborSuchomimus looks very similar in adaptations to Spinosaurus however under the skin is where the adaptions really shine. It’s metabolism is much slower and more akin to a crocodile to help it last longer periods without food and it’s neck vertebrae are designed to be able to lock into place, allowing it to keep its neck upright for days at a time. Another key feature of its neck is how it’s been modified to allow a great degree of sideways motion rather than the the preferred up and down motion of its ancestors, allowing it to strike down on prey from nearly any angle once it gets close to its head.

At first glance, the ArborSuchomimus isn’t incredibly interesting to watch compared to its ancestors, although it’s behaviour is very unique. ArborSuchomimus Isn’t particularly fast but will travel long distances to find a suitable forest to set up an ambush, knocking down trees if necessary before laying down with its head up, waiting for prey to come by. The mottled patterning, raggedy look and unusual scale texture gives the dinosaur the appearance of a fallen tree, this although unconvincing to some sharp eyed animals can fool unsuspecting prey, especially when the ArborSuchomimus has a habit of partly burring it’s limbs and obscure it’s body with fallen trees.

It’s eyes are noticeably larger than it’s ancestors and being similar to leaf tailed geckos, they are also camouflaged. These large eyes allow it greater vision most light levels allowing it to take advantage of every possible feeding opportunity. It’s ability to sense vibrations through the ground have also been increased aiding this massive predator in targeting its prey.

at 48ft long, ArborSuchomimus is a truly colossal predator and much like it’s relative the Spinosaurus there’s not a lot that’s too big for it’s jaws if it can catch it. Abelisaurids like Rugops, medium ornithopods, pterosaurs, juvenile Carcharodontosaurus and even other young members of its own species are all fair game. Once prey is in range it’s head strikes down at the helpless animal, sometimes targeting in front of the animal in an attempt to predict the movements of the more speedy prey (similar to tentacled snakes) before it’s robust jaws clamp down on it. It’s teeth, like all spinosaurids, are designed to pierce prey, giving the predator a good grip of its meal before it stands up to utilise it’s real killing weapons, it’s claws.

The force of the impact and subsequent bite of the ArborSuchomimus is enough to fatally injure most prey in itself, often breaking ribs and spines of anything unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of those jaws, but it still needs to turn prey into bite size chunks, which is where it’s arms come in. Much like other Spinosaurids, it’s powerful forelimbs are used both in defence and breaking food into more manageable chunks, unfortunately for it’s prey they are usually gutted while still alive and devoured by the hungry theropod.

Once it has ate as much as it can, if any scraps are left it will move to a different spot near the carcass and camouflage itself again. By doing this any scavengers that do come to claim the carcass for their own aren’t too suspicious of the tree several feet away from it, putting them in a false sense of security in hopes they will come in range of its deadly jaws.

such behaviour does attract many scavengers like Rugops, other medium sized theropods and even the odd pterosaur, however the smell can attract larger theropods such as Carcharodontosaurus on occasion, which they generally try to avoid getting its attention. Such interactions often end up being peacefully resolved, with the ArborSuchomimus remaining camouflaged while the Carcharodontosaurus, ether unaware or simply avoiding conflict has their fill and goes on their way, but physical conflicts can occur.

If an adult Carcharodontosaurus gets too close for comfort the ArborSuchomimus will quickly ditch its disguise and raises up in a defensive posture, claws held up in front of its chest and its head held much higher than the opposing theropod. In this position it’s an incredibly difficult for a Carcharodontosaurus to effectively attack, the neck is out of reach, aiming for its chest and belly is just going to get you slapped away and if you could somehow get behind it a bite to it’s back, it is not likely to be fatal due to the large neural spines getting in the way. Much like with its relative Spinosaurus such fights aren’t in the carcharodontosaurus’s favour and although scraps do occur it’s a rare occurrence often brought on by being desperate for food.

ArborSuchomimus is a unique member of Spinosauridae, one that ditched the semi piscavorious ways of its ancestors and took an experimental new direction. Such adaptations have never been seen on any other predator of this size and would yet to be seen, after the Spinosaurids left us with only fossils of the largest land carnivores the earth has ever seen. ArborSuchomimus was successful for a time and although it did last longer than most of its relatives, it’s hyper specialisations to it’s forest home would be its downfall, as Africa became more arid, its habitat shrunk until it was no more.

RIP ArborSuchomimus, the greatest ambush hunter that never existed.

(also this is where I talk about the behind the scene stuff)
the concept for this design came about when I was thinking about speculative evolutions for a spinosaurid and then realised how fully aquatic Spinosaurids are pretty much the go to for this type of thing. I’ve done it, you’ve done it, we’ve all done it! So I decided to take a different direction and have a completely terrestrial descendent of these Kaiju sized theropods.

The awkward thing about it is Spinosaurids do already hunt prey on land as well as aquatic prey, they are highly opportunistic hunters after all so I wanted to do something original, because otherwise it would just look like a big baryonyx with a slightly different head. Then I thought to myself, what if it was an ambush predator? Then the idea went on from there.

ambush predators have historically got impressively large before, wether it be the immense 38ft Sarcosuchus, 42ft Titanoboa and for a more modern example the 24ft Greenland shark. These very different animals with completely different lifestyles all share a few things in common, a slow metabolism, the ability to catch much faster prey using sudden bursts of speed, appearing unassuming or obscured at first glance to prey and are some of the largest/the largest of their respective families. All of which traits I gave to the ArborSuchomimus.

other adaptations that convergently evolved are it's leaf tail gecko like eyes and scales, tentacle snake like striking behaviour and bittern like patterning. All of which would require millions of years to evolve yet would make for one deadly ambush Hunter.