Torvosaurus
| Torvosaurus | ||||||||||||
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Reconstruction of a Torvosaurus skeleton in the Museum of Ancient Life, Utah |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Jurassic (Upper Kimmeridgian to Lower Tithonian ) | ||||||||||||
| 154.7 to 147.7 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Torvosaurus | ||||||||||||
| Galton & Jensen , 1979 | ||||||||||||
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Torvosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the late Jurassic of North America and Europe. The name Torvosaurus means "wild lizard" and is derived from the Latin word torvus ("wild") and ancient Greek σαῦρος / sauros ("lizard").
Fossil remains of Torvosaurus have been found in North America (late Kimmeridgian ) and Portugal (early Tithonian ). Torvosaurus reached a length of 9 to 11 meters and an estimated weight of 2 tons, making it the largest known carnivore of its time, with the exception of Allosaurus , Epanterias (presumably identical to Allosaurus ) and Saurophaganax .
In 1972, James A. Jensen and Kenneth Stadtman found the first fossils of Torvosaurus in the rocks of the Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry , part of the Morrison Formation in the US state of Colorado . The genus and the type species Torvosaurus tanneri were scientifically described for the first time in 1979 by Peter Galton and Jensen . The type species was later investigated further by Brooks Britt, a specimen from Portugal was described by O. Mateus and MT Antunes. In 2014, Hendrickx and Mateus identified the remains of what was initially thought to be a Torvosaurus tanneri from Portugal as a new species named Torvosaurus gurneyi .
Fossil record
The holotype consists of the upper arm bones ( humerus ) and forearm bones ( radius and ulna ). Additional material is available in the form of some skull bones , parts of the spine, and pelvic and hand bones.
Systematics
Torvosaurus is related to the older Megalosaurus , but appears more advanced. The classification is still uncertain, but the family of Megalosauridae is commonly viewed as a basal branch of the Tetanurae that is less derived than the carnosaurs or the coelurosaurs and was probably related to the spinosaurs .
size
The exact size of Torvosaurus is not known due to incomplete fossil records. However, it was a larger theropod. It is believed that the North American material from Torvosaurus belonged to a specimen about 9 meters long and 1.95 tons.
The finds from Portugal indicate an even larger specimen. In 2006 an almost complete upper jaw was discovered, which was assigned to Torvosaurus gurneyi . The dimensions of the lower jaw of 61.2 centimeters suggest a skull length of 115 centimeters for the Portuguese specimen. The length of the owner is estimated at 10 m.
Parts of a thigh bone were provisionally assigned to another specimen, which was an estimated 11 meters long and weighed just under two tons.
proof
- ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , pp. 86-87, online .
- ↑ a b Christophe Hendrickx, Octávio Mateus: Torvosaurus gurneyi n. Sp., The Largest Terrestrial Predator from Europe, and a Proposed Terminology of the Maxilla Anatomy in Nonavian Theropods. In: PLoS ONE . Vol. 9, No. 3, 2014, e88905, doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0088905 .
- ^ Gregory S. Paul: Predatory Dinosaurs of the World. A complete and illustrated guide. Simon and Schuster, New York NY et al. 1988, ISBN 0-671-61946-2 , p. 282.
- ↑ Mateus Octavio, Walen Aart, Antunes Miguel Telles: The large theropod fauna of the Lourinha Formation (Portugal) and its similarity to that of the Morrison Formation, with a description of a new species of Allosaurus. In: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Bulletin. 36, 2006, ISSN 1524-4156 , pp. 123–129, online (PDF; 488.20 KB) ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
