Megalosauridae

Megalosauridae is a monophyletic family of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs within the group Megalosauroidea. Appearing in the Middle Jurassic, megalosaurids were among the first major radiation of large theropod dinosaurs. They were a relatively primitive group of basal tetanurans containing two main subfamilies, Megalosaurinae and Afrovenatorinae, along with the basal genus Eustreptospondylus, an unresolved taxon which differs from both subfamilies.

Megalosauridae

Uncredited · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MegalosauroideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Theropoda
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 129 million years on record.

The record covers at least 201.4 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 205.7 Mya to 66 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 1 of 134 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 2 of 134 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 41 of 134 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 55 of 134 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 29 of 134 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 6 of 134 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 134 occurrences208–204 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences204–199 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences199–194 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences194–189 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences189–184 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences184–179 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences179–175 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences175–170 Mya — about 3 occurrences170–165 Mya — about 25 occurrences165–160 Mya — about 15 occurrences160–155 Mya — about 7 occurrences155–150 Mya — about 21 occurrences150–146 Mya — about 20 occurrences146–141 Mya — about 6 occurrences141–136 Mya — about 6 occurrences136–131 Mya — about 4 occurrences131–126 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences126–121 Mya — about 6 occurrences121–116 Mya — about 6 occurrences116–112 Mya — about 4 occurrences112–107 Mya — about 2 occurrences107–102 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences102–97 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences97–92 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences92–87 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences87–83 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 3 occurrences68–63 Mya — about 1 occurrence201.4 Mya72.2 Mya208 Mya63 Mya

134 occurrences of Megalosauridae on record, most of them in the Late Jurassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

134 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

46 formations

Morrison — 38.58°N, 108.40°WMorrison — 38.52°N, 105.21°WMorrison — 41.89°N, 106.00°WMorrison — 40.44°N, 109.30°WMorrison — 44.63°N, 107.81°WMorrison — 42.20°N, 105.86°WMorrison — 44.05°N, 107.46°WMorrison — 42.04°N, 106.39°WMorrison — 41.88°N, 106.11°WLourinhã — 39.40°N, 9.13°WLourinhã — 39.33°N, 9.36°WLourinhã — 39.20°N, 9.12°WLourinhã — 39.27°N, 9.33°WLourinhã — 39.22°N, 9.34°WLourinhã — 39.17°N, 9.36°WMarnes de Dives — 49.30°N, 0.07°WMarnes de Dives — 49.33°N, 0.00°EMarnes de Dives — 49.32°N, 0.03°WForest Marble — 51.87°N, 1.27°WForest Marble — 52.01°N, 1.90°WForest Marble — 51.92°N, 1.46°WTendaguru — 9.70°S, 39.23°ETendaguru — 9.84°S, 39.39°ECotswold Slate — 51.02°N, 3.25°WCotswold Slate — 51.90°N, 1.83°WTacuarembó — 31.80°S, 56.13°WTacuarembó — 31.87°S, 55.90°WTacuarembó — 31.70°S, 55.96°WTiourarén — 16.83°N, 6.53°ETiourarén — 16.42°N, 7.72°ECalcaires de Caen — 49.42°N, 0.40°ECalcaires de Caen — 49.19°N, 0.40°WChipping Norton Limestone — 51.99°N, 1.80°WChipping Norton Limestone — 51.98°N, 1.65°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.72°N, 2.77°WKimmeridge Clay — 50.60°N, 2.45°WOxford Clay — 51.78°N, 1.29°WOxford Clay — 52.55°N, 0.24°WWadhurst Clay — 50.88°N, 0.56°EWadhurst Clay — 50.90°N, 0.51°ETaynton Limestone — 51.85°N, 1.43°WVega — 43.48°N, 5.13°WSüntel — 52.29°N, 8.71°ESüntel — 51.90°N, 10.48°EOrnatenton — 52.26°N, 8.81°EIrhazer II — 16.68°N, 7.74°EMünder Mergel — 52.03°N, 9.63°EMünder Mergel — 51.94°N, 9.67°EKabu — 32.70°N, 130.85°ECharmouth Mudstone — 50.74°N, 2.90°WUpper Inferior Oolite — 50.96°N, 2.52°WMiddle Inferior Oolite — 50.97°N, 2.52°WSharp's Hill — 51.91°N, 1.58°W

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The named rock units Megalosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 22 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 37 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Megalosauridae and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Megalosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

515 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 127 sites for Megalosauridae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

80 references

Each of the 134 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 68 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Megalosauridae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Megalosauridae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMegalosauroidea through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Fitzinger 1843)