Metriacanthosauridae

Metriacanthosauridae is an extinct family of allosauroid theropod dinosaurs that lived in Europe and Asia from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. The family is split into two subgroups: Metriacanthosaurinae, which includes dinosaurs closely related to Metriacanthosaurus, and another group composed of the close relatives of Yangchuanosaurus. Metriacanthosaurids are considered carnosaurs, belonging to the Allosauroidea superfamily. The group includes species of large range in body size. Of their physical traits, most notable are their neural spines. The records of the group are mostly confined to Asia, though Metriacanthosaurus is known from Europe. Metriacanthosauridae is used as a senior synonym of Sinraptoridae.

Metriacanthosauridae

Ian Armstrong from Travelling the world at moment, Australia · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
AllosauroideaPBDB
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 67 million years on record.

The record covers at least 168.2 Mya to 100.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 174.7 Mya to 93.9 Mya.

Early Jurassic — about 0 of 23 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 8 of 23 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 4 of 23 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 8 of 23 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 3 of 23 occurrencesLate Cretaceous176–174 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences174–171 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences171–168 Mya — about 2 occurrences168–165 Mya — about 2 occurrences165–162 Mya — about 2 occurrences162–160 Mya — about 2 occurrences160–157 Mya — about 1 occurrence157–154 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences151–148 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences148–146 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences146–143 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences143–140 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences140–137 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences137–134 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences126–123 Mya — about 1 occurrence123–120 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences120–117 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences117–115 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences115–112 Mya — about 1 occurrence112–109 Mya — about 2 occurrences109–106 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences106–103 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences103–101 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences101–98 Mya — about 1 occurrence98–95 Mya — about 1 occurrence95–92 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences168.2 Mya100.5 Mya176 Mya92 Mya

23 occurrences of Metriacanthosauridae on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. 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

23 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

13 formations

Shaximiao — 29.41°N, 104.85°EShaximiao — 29.33°N, 105.68°EShaximiao — 29.39°N, 104.77°EBaharîje — 28.43°N, 28.91°EShishugou — 44.80°N, 90.05°EShishugou — 45.19°N, 88.92°EPhu Kradung — 16.27°N, 104.43°EPhu Kradung — 16.65°N, 102.25°ESao Khua — 16.70°N, 102.25°EOxford Clay — 50.64°N, 2.43°WLa Penthiève Beds — 48.87°N, 5.07°EChuanjie — 24.97°N, 102.08°EPapo Seco — 38.40°N, 9.22°WSuining — 30.15°N, 105.30°EDongdaqiao — 31.14°N, 97.22°EBalabansai — 41.34°N, 72.19°EZhanghe — 26.00°N, 101.86°E

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The named rock units Metriacanthosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Metriacanthosauridae and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Metriacanthosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

112 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 23 sites for Metriacanthosauridae, 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

20 references

Each of the 23 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. 8 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 Metriacanthosauridae

Credit
Ian Armstrong from Travelling the world at moment, Australia
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Metriacanthosauridae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itAllosauroidea through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Carrano et al. 2012