Metriacanthosaurus
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| Metricanthosaurus Fossil range: Middle Jurassic |
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Metriacanthosaurus (meaning "moderate-spined lizard") is a genus of sinraptorid dinosaur from the mid-Jurassic Period of England. In 1923 German Paleontologist Friedrich von Huene wrote a paper on Jurassic and Cretaceous European carnivorous dinosaurs. In this paper, he examined a few specimens including an incomplete hip, a leg bone, and part of a backbone, and believed it was a new species of Megalosaurus.
In the 1960s, however, scientist Alick Walker decided these fossils were too different from Megalosaurus and named a new genus, Metricanthosaurus. Because so little is known about this dinosaur, any image is speculation, based on closely related carnivores. What is known about it is it is a carnivore distinct from any other.
Metricanthosaurus gets its name from its vertebrae, which are taller than typical carnosaurs, like Allosaurus, but smaller than other high-spined dinosaurs like Acrocanthosaurus.
[edit] In popular culture
- In the film version of Jurassic Park, one of the vials containing dinosaur DNA is labeled with the name Metriacanthosaurus, though the genus does not appear in the film.
