Sauroniops

Sauroniops is a controversial genus of carnivorous carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian stage) of Morocco. It is known from the Gara Sbaa Formation of the Kem Kem beds and contains a single species, S. pachytholus.

==Discovery and naming== thumb|left|Diagram of the holotype Fossils of Sauroniops were first discovered by a Moroccan fossil hunter from an unknown locality near the town of Taouz in Errachidia Province, southeastern Morocco. This fossil hunter then sold it to a Moroccan fossil dealer, who then sold it to an individual who donated it to the Italian Museo Paleontologico di Montevarchi in Tuscany in the early twenty-first century. This fossil, consisting of a single, incomplete left frontal (bone above orbit) from a theropod dinosaur. Based on information from the donor, taphonomy of the fossil, and lithology of the matrix around the fossil, it comes from the Gara Sbaa Formation, though it was originally considered to be from the Izefouane Formation, of the Kem Kem Beds. This indicates that the fossil comes from the Cenomanian stage of the Lower Cretaceous.