Sarcosaurus
Sarcosaurus was a small, meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now England during the Early Jurassic. It ran on two legs and used its sharp teeth to hunt other animals.1
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Fun facts
Sarcosaurus lived during the Early Jurassic, about 202 to 195 million years ago.1
Only a partial pelvis, thigh bone, and backbone have been found of Sarcosaurus.1
Scientists once thought there were two species of Sarcosaurus, but a 2021 study showed they are actually one species called Sarcosaurus woodi.2
Sarcosaurus is a close relative of the group Averostra, which includes famous dinosaurs like Allosaurus and Velociraptor.2
The name Sarcosaurus means 'flesh lizard' in Greek.1
Most asked questions about Sarcosaurus
?How big was Sarcosaurus?
Sarcosaurus was about 3.5 metres (11 feet) long, and one larger specimen may have reached 5 metres (16 feet) long. It weighed no more than 50 to 60 kg (110 to 132 pounds), with the larger specimen estimated at 140 kg (309 pounds).3
?When did Sarcosaurus live?
Sarcosaurus lived during the Early Jurassic, about 199 to 196 million years ago. It was one of the earliest known Jurassic theropods.3
?What did Sarcosaurus eat?
Sarcosaurus was a meat-eating dinosaur, a bipedal predator that probably ran fast to catch small prey. Its sharp teeth and carnivorous lifestyle are hinted at by its name, which means 'flesh lizard'.34
?Where did Sarcosaurus live?
Sarcosaurus lived in what is now England, and possibly Ireland and Scotland. Fossils have been found in the Lower Lias of England, and a tibia from Northern Ireland may be related.3
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Sarcosaurus
- Named by
- Andrews 19215
- Group
- Meat-eating dinos
- Family / clade
- Coelophysoidea5
- Classification
- Theropoda > Coelophysoidea5
- Age of the rocks
- 201 to 193 million years (Hettangian / Sinemurian)5
- Rock formations
- Broadford Beds, Blue Lias5
- Countries
- United Kingdom5
- Fossil records
- 4 in the Paleobiology Database5
- Discovery
- Sarcosaurus was named by paleontologist C. W. Andrews in 1921. The fossils were found in the Lower Lias rocks of Barrow-on-Soar, England.51
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating exactly how Sarcosaurus is related to other early theropod dinosaurs, especially its position near the split between Ceratosauria and Tetanurae.2
Where the facts come from
- Sarcosaurus (nhm.ac.uk)
- revision of the early neotheropod genus Sarcosaurus from the Early Jurassic (Hettangian, Sinemurian) of central England | Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | Oxford Academic (academic.oup.com)
- Sarcosaurus (en.m.wikipedia.org)
- SARCOSAURUS - DinoChecker dinosaur archive (dinochecker.com)
- Sarcosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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