Megalosaurus

Megalosaurus holds a distinguished place in the history of science as the first non-avian dinosaur ever given a valid scientific name. Described by the eccentric Oxford geologist William Buckland in 1824, its fragmentary remains, most famously a lower jaw bearing curved, serrated teeth, were quarried from Oxfordshire limestone. Early Victorian restorations famously depicted it as a lumbering, four-legged reptilian giant, but modern research has revealed a quintessential bipedal tetanuran theropod. It reached an estimated eight to nine metres in length and weighed well over a tonne. For well over a century, Megalosaurus functioned as a wastebasket taxon into which almost any indeterminate theropod tooth or bone was placed, but today the genus is restricted to Middle Jurassic remains from southern England, where it dominated coastal habitats as an apex carnivore.

Described by William Buckland in 1824, Megalosaurus was the very first non-avian dinosaur to be formally named in scientific literature.

Where and when

Megalosaurus lived in the Middle Jurassic, from 168 to 166 million years ago (Bathonian age). Its remains come from United Kingdom, in the Taynton Limestone Formation.

The numbers

Length 8.5 m (estimates run from 8 to 9 m). Mass about 1.2 t. Hip height about 2.5 m. That is 5 human-lengths, or 0.76 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

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