Megalosaurus

Description

Early reconstructions

Since those first finds, many other Megalosaurus bones have been recovered, but still no complete skeleton has been found. Therefore we cannot be certain about the details of Megalosaurus's physical appearance. Early paleontologists, never having seen such a creature before, reconstructed it like the dragons of popular mythology, with a huge head and walking on all fours. It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century, when other theropods began to be discovered in North America, that a more accurate picture was developed. Some confusion still exists, for at one time (before classification of dinosaurs became the serious business it is today) all theropods from Europe were given the title Megalosaurus. Since then, these have been mostly reclassified but older papers are often the cause of confusion. For further confusion, the most reproduced anatomy diagram of Megalosaurus skeleton was produced before any vertebrae had been recovered. While drawing it, Friedrich von Huene of the University of Tubingeng, Germany, instead used the backbones of Altispinax, a mysterious big theropod known from high-spined dorsal vertebrae and at times classified as a spinosaur. Hence, many later drawings based on his original show Megalosaurus with a deep spinal ridge or even a small sail like that of Spinosaurus.

Related Topics:
Dragon - Mythology - Nineteenth century - Theropod - North America - Classification of dinosaurs - Europe - Paper - Anatomy - University of Tubingeng - Germany - Altispinax - Spinosaur - Spinosaurus

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Modern reconstructions

In fact, Megalosaurus did have a relatively large head and the teeth were clearly that of a carnivore. However, the long tail would have balanced the body and head and so Megalosaurus is now restored as a bipedal beast like all other theropods, and about nine metres in length. The structure of the cervical vertebrae suggests that its neck would have been very flexible. To support its weight of around one tonne, the legs were large and muscular. Like all theropods, it had three forward facing toes and a single reversed one. Although they had not reached the minuscule size of later theropods like Tyrannosaurus, Megalosaurus arms were small and probably had three or four fingers.

Related Topics:
Carnivore - Bipedal - Theropod - Cervical vertebra - Tonne - Tyrannosaurus

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Living in what is now Europe during the Jurassic Period (181 to 169 million years ago), Megalosaurus may have hunted stegosaurs and sauropods. Repeated descriptions of Megalosaurus hunting Iguanodon (another of the earliest dinosaurs named) through the forests that then covered the continent are probably inaccurate, because Iguanodon skeletons are found in much younger Early Cretaceous formations. No fossils assignable to Megalosaurus have been discovered in Africa, contrary to some outdated dinosaur books.

Related Topics:
Stegosaurs - Sauropod - Iguanodon - Cretaceous - Africa

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Although Megalosaurus was a powerful carnivore and could probably have attacked even the largest sauropods, it is also likely that it gained some of its food by scavenging. That is not to detract from its prowess as a hunter - Tyrannosaurus probably did much the same. Efficiency was necessary to feed such a large body.

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M. dabukaensis {{Taxobox authority | author = Zhao | date = 1985}} ? nomen dubium

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M. phillipsi {{Taxobox authority | author = H. P. Powell & Pickering | date = 1995}} ? nomen nudum

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