Megalosaurus

Say it: MEG-uh-loh-SORE-us

Name means: “great lizard”1

Ate: MeatOther meat-eatersLate Triassic to Late Cretaceous

Megalosaurus was a big, meat-eating dinosaur that stomped around England during the Middle Jurassic, about 166 million years ago. It was one of the very first dinosaurs ever found and the first one to get a name, even before the word 'dinosaur' existed!1

Lived

206 to 66 million years ago2

Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Fossils have been found in England, especially around Oxfordshire, and also in France, Spain, Germany, China, and Tanzania.1 2

Food

Meat1 2

Length

6 m1

Artist's life restoration of Megalosaurus — How Megalosaurus may have looked, by Édouard Riou. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Megalosaurus was named in 1824, which was 18 years before the word 'dinosaur' was even invented in 1842.1

At first, scientists thought there were many species of Megalosaurus, more than any other dinosaur, but now they think there was only one true species, Megalosaurus bucklandii.1

Many fossils that were once called Megalosaurus have been reclassified as other dinosaurs, because Megalosaurus was one of the first named and became a 'wastebasket' for similar finds.1

The type specimen of Megalosaurus is a partial lower jaw bone, found in the Stonesfield Slate quarries in England.2

Megalosaurus lived during the Bathonian Age, which is in the middle of the Jurassic Period, about 166 million years ago.1

Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur ever discovered, but that's not quite right.

Truth: Megalosaurus was one of the first dinosaurs found and the first to be named, but it was named before the word 'dinosaur' existed, and many other fossils were found earlier but not recognized as dinosaurs.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Megalosaurus
Named by: Parkinson 18222
Group: Other meat-eaters
Family / clade: Megalosauridae2
Classification: Theropoda2
Age of the rocks: 206 to 66 million years (Rhaetian to Maastrichtian)2
Rock formations: Forest Marble, Cotswold Slate, Marnes de Dives2
Countries: United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, China, Tanzania2
Fossil records: 60 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: Megalosaurus was named by William Buckland in 1824, based on fossils found in Oxfordshire, England, including a tooth, a leg bone, and a piece of lower jaw. It was the first dinosaur to receive a scientific name.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether some fossils assigned to Megalosaurus really belong to it, because it was named so early and many specimens have been reassigned. Some researchers think the name Megalosaurus might only apply to the one good species, Megalosaurus bucklandii.1 2

Where the facts come from

Megalosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Megalosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.