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sharp-clawed runner
Megalosaurus
Say it like this: “MEG-a-lo-SAWR-us”
Megalosaurus bucklandii
Megalosaurus ate meat and walked on two legs. It lived in the Middle Jurassic. Bones have been found in the United Kingdom.
- When
- Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) · roughly 168.2 to 165.3 million years ago
- Named in
- 1824 · Buckland, W.
- Hip height
- Not established
- Length
- 6 m · 20 ft
- Weight
- 700 kg · 1,543 lb
- Found in
- the United Kingdom · Taynton Limestone
- Food and walking
- Carnivore · Two legs
- Kind
- sharp-clawed runner · Theropod
- Family branch
- Megalosaurinae
The story in short
In 1824, W. Buckland published the name Megalosaurus. The name means “great lizard.”
Fossils referred to Megalosaurus date to the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian), roughly 168.2 to 165.3 million years ago. Finds come from the United Kingdom, including the Taynton Limestone Formation. It was a carnivore and walked on two legs.
Published estimates put Megalosaurus at a length near 6 m and a body mass around 700 kg.
On the family tree it sits in Megalosaurinae, among the theropod dinosaurs.
Buckland’s 1824 paper is the one historians count as the first scientific naming of a non-avian dinosaur. The species name still used, Megalosaurus bucklandii, was published by Gideon Mantell in 1827.
Close relatives
Duriavenator
Duriavenator hesperis
Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) · roughly 170.9 to 168.2 million years ago
Torvosaurus
Torvosaurus tanneri
Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian · Tithonian) · roughly 154.8 to 143.1 million years ago
Wiehenvenator
Wiehenvenator albati
Middle Jurassic (Callovian) · roughly 165.3 to 161.5 million years ago