Torvosaurus
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''Torvosaurus'' () is a
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of carnivorous megalosaurid
theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
that lived approximately 165 to 148
million years ago The abbreviation Myr, "million years", is a unit of a quantity of (i.e. ) years, or 31.556926 teraseconds. Usage Myr (million years) is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used with Mya (million years ago ...
during the late Middle and
Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...
period (
Callovian In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 166.1 ± 4.0 Ma (million years ago) and 163.5 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the ...
to
Tithonian In the geological timescale, the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch and the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 152.1 ± 4 Ma and 145.0 ± 4 Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by ...
stages) in what is now
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
,
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, and possibly
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
,
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,
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
, and
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. It contains two currently recognized
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...
, ''Torvosaurus tanneri'' and ''Torvosaurus gurneyi'', plus a third species from Germany that is currently unnamed. In 1979 the
type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specim ...
''Torvosaurus tanneri'' was named: it is a large, heavily built,
bipedal Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' 'double' ...
carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other s ...
, that could grow to a length of about . ''T. tanneri'' was among the largest carnivores of its time, together with '' Epanterias'' and '' Saurophaganax'' (which could both be synonyms for ''
Allosaurus ''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch ( Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alludin ...
''). Specimens referred to ''Torvosaurus gurneyi'' were measured up to long. Based on bone morphology, ''Torvosaurus'' is thought to have had short but very powerful arms.


Discovery

Fossilized remains of ''Torvosaurus'' have been found in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
,
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, and possibly also
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
,
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
, and
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. The first discovered remains referable to ''Torvosaurus'' were discovered in 1899 by
Elmer Riggs Elmer Samuel Riggs (January 23, 1869 – March 25, 1963) was an American paleontologist known for his work with the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. Biography He was born in Trafalgar, Indiana, and moved with his fam ...
in the "Freeze-out Hills" of southeastern
Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...
, northwest of the town of Medicine Bow. The material consisted of part of the left foot and right hand and they were taken to the
Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...
in
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,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
where they were stored until being re-discovered around 2010. The specimen was assigned to ''Torvosaurus tanneri'' after being described in 2014.Hanson, Michael; Makovicky, Peter J. "A new specimen of ''Torvosaurus tanneri'' originally collected by
Elmer Riggs Elmer Samuel Riggs (January 23, 1869 – March 25, 1963) was an American paleontologist known for his work with the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. Biography He was born in Trafalgar, Indiana, and moved with his fam ...
". ''Historical Biology, volume 26, issue 6 (2014).'' Pages 775-784. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08912963.2013.853056?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=ghbi20.
More remains of a large
theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
that is now believed to have been ''Torvosaurus'' were discovered in the
Tendaguru Formation The Tendaguru Formation, or Tendaguru Beds are a highly fossiliferous formation and Lagerstätte located in the Lindi Region of southeastern Tanzania. The formation represents the oldest sedimentary unit of the Mandawa Basin, overlying Neoproter ...
of
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
and was named "''
Megalosaurus ''Megalosaurus'' (meaning "great lizard", from Greek , ', meaning 'big', 'tall' or 'great' and , ', meaning 'lizard') is an extinct genus of large carnivorous theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period (Bathonian stage, 166 million years ...
''" ''ingens'' by
Werner Janensch Werner Ernst Martin Janensch (11 November 1878 – 20 October 1969) was a German paleontologist and geologist. Biography Janensch was born at Herzberg (Elster). In addition to Friedrich von Huene, Janensch was probably Germany's most impo ...
in 1920, based on the specimen MB R 1050, a long tooth from
German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mo ...
(now Tanzania). It was eventually reclassified as a probable member of the Carcharodontosauridae before being reclassified as a probable member of the ''Torvosaurus'' genus in 2020; although only referred to as ''Torvosaurus sp.'', one commentator has noted it could potentially be called ''Torvosaurus ingens''. Soto ''et al.'' described teeth of a member of the genus ''Torvosaurus'' from the Tacuarembó Formation of
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. The authors noted that some of the specimens of ''"Megalosaurus ingens'' figured by
Werner Janensch Werner Ernst Martin Janensch (11 November 1878 – 20 October 1969) was a German paleontologist and geologist. Biography Janensch was born at Herzberg (Elster). In addition to Friedrich von Huene, Janensch was probably Germany's most impo ...
share the features of the Uruguayan material, and stated that the materials from Tanzania and Uruguay may represent the same taxon due to geographical proximity, but ultimately concluded that based on teeth only they do not share any derived character to distinguish them from the described species of the genus, ''T. tanneri'' and ''T. gurneyi''.Tacuarembó Formation
at
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.org
However, Rauhut ''et al.'' consider the teeth to be undiagnostic, being coherent in size and shape with a variety of other theropods (including carcharodontosaurids), and thus they consider their attribution to the genus to be problematic. In 1971, Vivian Jones, of
Delta, Colorado Delta is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Delta County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 9,035 at the 2020 United States Census. The United States Forest Service headquarte ...
(USA), in the Calico Gulch Quarry in Moffat County, discovered a single gigantic thumb claw of a theropod. This was shown to James Alvin Jensen, a collector working for
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...
. In an effort to discover comparable fossils, Vivian's husband Daniel Eddie Jones directed Jensen to the
Dry Mesa Quarry The Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry is situated in southwestern Colorado, United States, near the town of Delta. Its geology forms a part of the Morrison Formation and has famously yielded a great diversity of animal remains from the Jurassic Period, amo ...
, where abundant gigantic theropod bones, together with ''
Supersaurus ''Supersaurus'' (meaning "super lizard") is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. The type species, ''S. vivianae'', was first discovered by Vivian Jones of Delta, Colorado, in ...
'' remains, proved present in rocks of the
Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltston ...
. From 1972 onward the site was excavated by Jensen and Kenneth Stadtman. The
type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specim ...
''Torvosaurus tanneri'' was named and described in
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...
by
Peter Malcolm Galton Peter Malcolm Galton (born 14 March 1942 in London) is a British vertebrate paleontologist who has to date written or co-written about 190 papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosaur ...
and Jensen. The genus name ''Torvosaurus'' derives from the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
word ''torvus'', meaning "savage", and the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
word ''sauros'' (σαυρος), meaning "lizard". The specific name ''tanneri'', is named after first counselor in the
First Presidency Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency ...
of
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Nathan Eldon Tanner. In 1985, Jensen could report a considerable amount of additional material, among it the first skull elements.Jensen, J.A., 1985, "Uncompahgre dinosaur fauna: A preliminary report", ''Great Basin Naturalist'', 45: 710–720 The fossils from Colorado were further described by
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in 1991.Britt, B., 1991,
Theropods of Dry Mesa Quarry (Morrison Formation, Late Jurassic), Colorado, with emphasis on the osteology of ''Torvosaurus tanneri''
, ''Brigham Young University Geology Studies'' 37: 1–72
The
holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...
BYU 2002 originally consisted of upper arm bones ( humeri) and lower arm bones ( radii and
ulna The ulna (''pl''. ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone found in the forearm that stretches from the elbow to the smallest finger, and when in anatomical position, is found on the medial side of the forearm. That is, the ulna is on the same side of t ...
e). The
paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype nor a syntype). O ...
s included some back bones, hip bones, and hand bones. When the material described in 1985 is added, the main missing elements are the shoulder girdle and the thighbone. The original thumb claw, specimen BYUVP 2020, was only provisionally referred as it had been found in a site away from the Dry Mesa Quarry. The holotype and paratypes represented at least three individuals: two adults and a juvenile. In 1991, Britt concluded that there was no proof that the front limbs of the holotype were associated and chose the left humerus as the
lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...
. Several single bones and teeth found in other American sites have been referred to ''Torvosaurus''. In 1992, fossils of a large theropod found at
Como Bluff Como Bluff is a long ridge extending east–west, located between the towns of Rock River and Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The ridge is an anticline, formed as a result of compressional geological folding. Three geological formations, the Sundance, th ...
in
Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...
, containing skull, shoulder girdle, pelvis and rib elements, were named by Robert T. Bakker ''et al.'' as the species ''Edmarka rex''. Bakker ''et al'' were impressed with the size of ''Edmarka'', noting that it "would rival '' T. rex'' in total length," and viewing this approximate size as "a natural ceiling for dinosaurian meat-eaters." This was often considered a
junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linn ...
of ''Torvosaurus'', but a detailed analysis has not been carried out yet. The same site has rendered comparable remains for which the ''
nomen nudum In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate desc ...
'' ''Brontoraptor'' has been used.Siegwarth, J., Linbeck, R., Bakker, R. and Southwell, B. (1996). Giant carnivorous dinosaurs of the family Megalosauridae. ''Hunteria'' 3:1–77. Most researchers now regard both specimens as belonging to ''Torvosaurus tanneri''. However, both the ''Edmarka rex'' and ''Brontoraptor'' require reclassification to determine whether they actually belong to ''T. tanneri'', for all the specimens described prior to their discovery indicate that they reached their adult size, and both incomplete specimens lack detailed osteological descriptions. In 2012, a still undescribed, 55% complete specimen was discovered in Colorado in the Skull Creek Quarry, an exposure of the Morrison Formation. The specimen, nicknamed "Elvis", included the pelvic, spine, and hind limb bones, a complete, associated backbone, maxillary and cranial elements, and is the most complete specimen of ''Torvosaurus'' found to date. A mounted skeleton of the specimen, with missing parts reconstructed with casts from other ''Torvosaurus'' specimens is currently on display in the Museum of Natural History & Science in Cincinnati. In 2000, material from Portugal was referred to a ''Torvosaurus'' sp. by
Octávio Mateus Octávio Mateus (born 1975) is a Portuguese dinosaur paleontologist and biologist Professor of Paleontology at the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He graduated in Universidade de Évora and received his PhD at ...
and
Miguel Telles Antunes Dr. Miguel Telles Antunes (born 11 January 1937; Lisbon) is a famous Portuguese academic, specializing in paleontology, zooarchaeology, and geology. Antunes is a ranking member of various institutions, including the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, N ...
.Mateus, O., & Antunes, M. T. (2000). ''Torvosaurus'' sp.(Dinosauria: Theropoda) in the late Jurassic of Portugal. In I Congresso Ibérico de Paleontologia/XVI Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología (pp. 115–117) In 2006 fossils from the Portuguese Lourinhã Formation were referred to ''Torvosaurus tanneri''.Mateus, O., Walen, A., and Antunes, M.T. (2006). "The large theropod fauna of the Lourinha Formation (Portugal) and its similarity to that of the Morrison Formation, with a description of a new species of ''Allosaurus''." ''New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin'', 36. In 2012, however, Matthew Carrano ''et al.'' concluded that this material could not be more precisely determined than a ''Torvosaurus'' sp. In 2013 and 2014 eggs with and without embryos were reported from Portugal, referred to ''Torvosaurus''. The species from Portugal was named ''T. gurneyi'' in honor of
James Gurney James Gurney (born June 14, 1958) is an American artist and author known for his illustrated book series '' Dinotopia'', which is presented in the form of a 19th-century explorer's journal from an island utopia cohabited by humans and dinosaurs ...
in 2014, the creator of the ''
Dinotopia ''Dinotopia'' is a series of illustrated fantasy books, created by author and illustrator James Gurney. It is set in the titular Dinotopia, an isolated island inhabited by shipwrecked humans and sapient dinosaurs who have learned to coexist p ...
'' series of books. It is the largest named theropod known from Europe, although an isolated anterior caudal vertebra from the Vega Formation in
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
, which may belong to ''Torvosaurus'' or a closely related taxon, is about 15% larger than the one found on ''T. gurneyi.'' Furthermore, remains of a large
spinosaurid The Spinosauridae (or spinosaurids) are a clade or family of tetanuran theropod dinosaurs comprising ten to seventeen known genera. They came into prominence during the Cretaceous period. Spinosaurid fossils have been recovered worldwide, includin ...
from the
Vectis Formation The Vectis Formation is a geological formation on the Isle of Wight and Swanage, England whose strata were formed in the lowermost Aptian, approximately 125 million years ago."Magnetostratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Vectis Formation (Wealden ...
in the
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include vertebrae of size comparable to those of ''
Spinosaurus ''Spinosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa during the Cenomanian to upper Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous period, about 99 to 93.5 million years ago. The genus was known first f ...
,'' indicating an animal exceeding 10 m in length, making it the largest reported European theropod. It was the morphological distinctiveness of the holotype maxilla ML1100 that led to the naming of the Portuguese species. In 2017, a set of Portuguese cranial material assigned to ''Torvosaurus'' was described, including a specimen interpreted as belonging to the same individual as the holotype of ''Torvosaurus gurneyi''. In 2020, Soto ''et al.'' described FC-DPV 2971, a tooth from Uruguay, as belonging to a new species of ''Torvosaurus'', known as ''T. ingens''. They also assigned ''
Megalosaurus ''Megalosaurus'' (meaning "great lizard", from Greek , ', meaning 'big', 'tall' or 'great' and , ', meaning 'lizard') is an extinct genus of large carnivorous theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period (Bathonian stage, 166 million years ...
''/''
Ceratosaurus ''Ceratosaurus'' (from Greek κέρας/κέρατος, ' meaning "horn" and σαῦρος ' meaning "lizard") was a carnivorous theropod dinosaur in the Late Jurassic period ( Kimmeridgian to Tithonian). The genus was first described in 1 ...
ingens'' (specimen MB R 1050) from Tanzania to ''Torvosaurus''. Also in 2020, a fragmentary maxilla referable to ''Torvosaurus'' was described from the middle
Callovian In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 166.1 ± 4.0 Ma (million years ago) and 163.5 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the ...
Ornatenton Formation of Germany. This is the oldest record of the genus and suggests that megalosaurines originated in Europe, or at least that Europe was a biogeographical turntable for this group from the Middle to the early Late Jurassic. Other possible ''Torvosaurus'' instances in Europe include fragmentary remains from the
Kimmeridge Clay The Kimmeridge Clay is a sedimentary deposit of fossiliferous marine clay which is of Late Jurassic to lowermost Cretaceous age and occurs in southern and eastern England and in the North Sea. This rock formation is the major source rock for Nor ...
of England which possibly belong to the genus. These consist of a tibia (OUMNH J.29886) and a maxilla fragment, collected separately from each other.


Description

''Torvosaurus'' was a very large and robust predator, with an estimated maximum body length of and mass of for the Portuguese species ''T. gurneyi'', making ''T. gurneyi'' among the largest land carnivores of the Jurassic. Claims have been made indicating even larger sizes for the American species ''T. tanneri'' up to in length and more than based on incomplete remains of ''Edmarka rex'' and ''Brontoraptor''. However, these claims regarding ''T. tanneri'' are likely erroneous, for the discovered remains of ''T. tanneri'' indicate that they reached adult size at in length and approximately in body mass. Furthermore, both the ''Edmarka rex'' and ''Brontoraptor'' lack detailed analysis to verify whether they actually belong to ''T. tanneri''. Among the differentiating features originally recognized between ''T. gurneyi'' and ''T. tanneri'' are the number of teeth and the size and shape of the mouth. While the upper jaw of ''T. tanneri'' has more than 11 teeth, that of ''T. gurneyi'' has less. However, later examination of a new right maxilla probably belonging to the same individual as the holotype of ''T. gurneyi'' has determined that while the two species can be distinguished based on the morphology of the maxillary medial wall and interdental plates, the supposedly lower number of maxillary teeth in the Portuguese form may be an artifact of preservation since it is not possible to know at the moment the exact number of teeth in the complete maxilla. The material from Germany is further distinguished by the other two species by a temporal difference of c. 10 Ma and a few morphological differences which indicate that the animal was the third species outside a sister taxon relationship between ''T. tanneri'' and ''T. gurneyi''. The material is only 10% smaller than the maxilla of ''T. tanneri'', although the ontogenetic stage of the specimen is unknown, indicating that derived megalosaurines were already among the largest terrestrial predators in the late Middle Jurassic, with only a moderate increase in size in the genus in the Late Jurassic. ''Torvosaurus'' had an elongated, narrow snout, with a kink in its profile just above the large nostrils. The frontmost snout bone, the
premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammal has ...
, bore three rather flat teeth oriented somewhat outwards with the front edge of the teeth crown overlapping the outer side of the rear edge of the preceding crown. The
maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. T ...
was tall and bore at least eleven rather long teeth. The
antorbital fenestra An antorbital fenestra (plural: fenestrae) is an opening in the skull that is in front of the eye sockets. This skull character is largely associated with archosauriforms, first appearing during the Triassic Period. Among extant archosaurs, bird ...
was relatively short. The
lacrimal bone The lacrimal bone is a small and fragile bone of the facial skeleton; it is roughly the size of the little fingernail. It is situated at the front part of the medial wall of the orbit. It has two surfaces and four borders. Several bony landmarks of ...
had a distinctive lacrimal horn on top; its lower end was broad in side view. The eye socket was tall with a pointed lower end. The
jugal The jugal is a skull bone found in most reptiles, amphibians and birds. In mammals, the jugal is often called the malar or zygomatic. It is connected to the quadratojugal and maxilla, as well as other bones, which may vary by species. Anatomy ...
was long and transversely thin. The lower front side of the
quadrate bone The quadrate bone is a skull bone in most tetrapods, including amphibians, sauropsids (reptiles, birds), and early synapsids. In most tetrapods, the quadrate bone connects to the quadratojugal and squamosal bones in the skull, and forms upper pa ...
was hollowed out by a tear-shaped depression, the contact surface with the
quadratojugal The quadratojugal is a skull bone present in many vertebrates, including some living reptiles and amphibians. Anatomy and function In animals with a quadratojugal bone, it is typically found connected to the jugal (cheek) bone from the front and ...
. Both the neck vertebrae and the front dorsal vertebrae had relatively flexible ball-in-socket joints. The balls, on the front side of the vertebral centra, had a wide rim, a condition by Britt likened to a Derby hat. The tail base was stiffened in the vertical plane by high and in side view wide neural spines. The upper arm was robust; the lower arm robust but short. Whether the thumb claw was especially enlarged, is uncertain. In the pelvis, the ilium resembled that of ''Megalosaurus'' and had a tall, short, front blade and a longer pointed rear blade. The pelvis as a whole was massively built, with the bone skirts between the
pubic bone In vertebrates, the pubic region ( la, pubis) is the most forward-facing ( ventral and anterior) of the three main regions making up the coxal bone. The left and right pubic regions are each made up of three sections, a superior ramus, inferior ...
s and the
ischia Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately east to ...
contacting each other and forming a vaulted closed underside.


Systematics and classification

When first described in 1979 by Galton and Jensen,P. M. Galton and J. A. Jensen. 1979
A new large theropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Colorado
Brigham Young University Geology Studies 26(1):1–12
''Torvosaurus'' was classified as a megalosaurid, which is the current consensus. It was later assigned to
Carnosauria Carnosauria is an extinct large group of predatory dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Starting from the 1990s, scientists have discovered some very large carnosaurs in the carcharodontosaurid family, such as '' G ...
by
Ralph Molnar Ralph E. Molnar is a paleontologist who had been Curator of Mammals at the Queensland Museum and more recently associated with the Museum of Northern Arizona. He is also a research associate at the Texas natural Science Centre. He co-authored descr ...
''et al.'' in 1990, and to a basal position in
Spinosauroidea Megalosauroidea (meaning 'great/big lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of tetanuran theropod dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period. The group is defined as ''Megalosaurus bucklandii'' and all taxa sh ...
by
Oliver Walter Mischa Rauhut {{Short pages monitor The ischium () form ...
shaft with a prominent lateral midline crest and an oval outline when examined in lateral view * the cervical vertebrae are opisthocoelous with a pronounced flat rim around the anterior, ball (according to Rauhut, 2000) * a (transverse)
fenestra A fenestra (fenestration; plural fenestrae or fenestrations) is any small opening or pore, commonly used as a term in the biological sciences. It is the Latin word for "window", and is used in various fields to describe a pore in an anatomical st ...
is situated in the neural arch of the dorsal vertebrae in front of the hyposphene (according to Rauhut, 2000)


Paleobiology

The study of fossil dinosaur embryos provides researchers with information about the transformation of the embryo over time, the different developmental pathways present in dinosaur lineages, dinosaur reproductive behavior, and dinosaur parental care. In 2013, Araújo ''et al''. announced the discovery of specimen ML1188, a clutch of crushed dinosaur eggs and embryonic material attributed to ''Torvosaurus''. This discovery further supports the hypothesis that large theropod dinosaurs were oviparous, meaning that they laid eggs and hence that embryonic development occurred outside the body of female dinosaurs. This discovery was made in 2005 by the Dutch amateur fossil-hunter Aart Walen at the Lourinhã Formation in Western Portugal, in fluvial overbank sediments that are considered to be from the Tithonian stage of the
Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...
Period, approximately 152 to 145 million years ago. This discovery is significant paleontologically for a number of reasons: (a) these are the most primitive dinosaur embryos known; (b) these are the only basal theropod embryos known; (c) fossilized eggs and embryos are rarely found together; (d) it represents the first evidence of a one-layered eggshell for theropod dinosaurs; and (e) it allows researchers to link a new eggshell morphology to the osteology of a particular group of theropod dinosaurs. The specimen is housed at the
Museu da Lourinhã Museu da Lourinhã is a museum in the town of Lourinhã, west Portugal. It was founded in 1984 by GEAL - Grupo de Etnologia e Arqueologia da Lourinhã (Lourinhã's Group of Ethnology and Archeology). The president of the Direction Board is Lubélia ...
, in Portugal. As the eggs were abandoned due to unknown circumstances, it is not known if ''Torvosaurus'' provided parental care to its eggs and young or abandoned them shortly after laying. However, the eggshells are highly porous, allowing efficient gaseous exchange between the external and internal media, and thus indicative of eggs buried for incubation within the substrate, in a manner similar to modern seaturtles. This is also corroborated by the undisturbed taphonomic setting and low-energy geological context. All documented ''Torvosaurus'' specimens from the
Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltston ...
are from similarly sized, likely adult individuals, and the lack of immature individuals may be explained by many factors, none of which are mutually exclusive. For one thing, the formation is known to preserve large vertebrates better than smaller ones. Immature individuals may also have occupied a different ecological niche from adults in habitats where their remains were likely to preserve as fossils, and they may have been the prey of choice of larger predators as well. ''Torvosaurus'' may also have experienced Type B1 population survivorship as has been found in other dinosaurs, with mortality increasing after sexual maturity was achieved leading to an abundance of mature individuals in the fossil record. A final possibility is that immature ''Torvosaurus'' remains could be misidentified due to having different proportions compared to the very large and robust adults.


Paleoecology


Provenance and occurrence

The
type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...
of ''Torvosaurus tanneri'' BYU 2002 was recovered in the
Dry Mesa Quarry The Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry is situated in southwestern Colorado, United States, near the town of Delta. Its geology forms a part of the Morrison Formation and has famously yielded a great diversity of animal remains from the Jurassic Period, amo ...
of the Brushy Basin Member of the
Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltston ...
, in Montrose County, Colorado. The specimen was collected by James A. Jensen and Kenneth Stadtman in 1972 in medium-grained, coarse sandstone that was deposited during the
Tithonian In the geological timescale, the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch and the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 152.1 ± 4 Ma and 145.0 ± 4 Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by ...
and
Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma and 152.1 ± 0.9 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxford ...
stages of the
Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...
period, approximately 153 to 148 million years ago. This specimen is housed in the collection of
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...
in
Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Utah, fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County, Utah, Utah County and is home to Bri ...
.


Fauna and habitat in North America

Studies suggest that the
paleoenvironment Paleoecology (also spelled palaeoecology) is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. As a discipline, paleoecology interacts with, depends on and informs ...
of this section of the Morrison Formation included rivers that flowed from the west into a basin that contained a giant, saline alkaline lake and there were extensive wetlands in the vicinity. The Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry of western Colorado yields one of the most diverse Upper Jurassic vertebrate assemblages in the world. The Dry Mesa Quarry has produced the remains of the
sauropods Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their b ...
''
Apatosaurus ''Apatosaurus'' (; meaning "deceptive lizard") is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. Othniel Charles Marsh described and named the first-known species, ''A. ajax'', in 1 ...
'', ''
Brachiosaurus ''Brachiosaurus'' () is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic, about 154to 150million years ago. It was first Species description, described by American paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 in pal ...
'', ''
Diplodocus ''Diplodocus'' (, , or ) was a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs, whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a neo-Latin term derived from Greek δ ...
'', ''
Barosaurus ''Barosaurus'' ( ) was a giant, long-tailed, long-necked, plant-eating sauropod dinosaur closely related to the more familiar ''Diplodocus''. Remains have been found in the Morrison Formation from the Upper Jurassic Period of Utah and South Da ...
'', ''
Supersaurus ''Supersaurus'' (meaning "super lizard") is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. The type species, ''S. vivianae'', was first discovered by Vivian Jones of Delta, Colorado, in ...
'', '' Dystylosaurus'', and ''
Camarasaurus ''Camarasaurus'' ( ) was a genus of quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaurs and is the most common North American sauropod fossil. Its fossil remains have been found in the Morrison Formation, dating to the Late Jurassic epoch ( Kimmeridgian to ...
'', the
iguanodonts Iguanodontia (the iguanodonts) is a clade of herbivorous dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. Some members include '' Camptosaurus'', ''Dryosaurus'', ''Iguanodon'', '' Tenontosaurus'', and the hadrosaurids or "duck-bi ...
''
Camptosaurus ''Camptosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of plant-eating, beaked ornithischian dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic period of western North America and possibly also Europe. The name means 'flexible lizard' ( Greek (') meaning 'bent' and (') meaning 'li ...
'' and ''
Dryosaurus ''Dryosaurus'' ( , meaning 'tree lizard', Greek ' () meaning 'tree, oak' and () meaning 'lizard'; the name reflects the forested habitat, not a vague oak-leaf shape of its cheek teeth as is sometimes assumed) is a genus of an ornithopod dinosaur ...
'', and the
theropods Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally ca ...
''
Allosaurus ''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch ( Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alludin ...
'', '' Tanycolagreus'', '' Koparion'', '' Stokesosaurus'', ''
Ceratosaurus ''Ceratosaurus'' (from Greek κέρας/κέρατος, ' meaning "horn" and σαῦρος ' meaning "lizard") was a carnivorous theropod dinosaur in the Late Jurassic period ( Kimmeridgian to Tithonian). The genus was first described in 1 ...
'', and '' Ornitholestes'', as well as '' Othnielosaurus'', ''
Gargoyleosaurus ''Gargoyleosaurus'' (meaning "gargoyle lizard") is one of the earliest ankylosaurs known from reasonably complete fossil remains. The holotype was discovered in 1995 at the Bone Cabin Quarry West locality, in Albany County, Wyoming in exposures ...
'', and ''
Stegosaurus ''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been fou ...
''. The flora of the period has been revealed by fossils of
green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga ...
,
fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately fr ...
,
moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...
es,
horsetails ''Equisetum'' (; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of ferns, which reproduce by spores rather than seeds. ''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass ...
, ferns,
cycad Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male o ...
s,
ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants. The scientific name is also used as the English name. The order to which it belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, 270 million years ago, and is now the only living genus with ...
es, and several families of
conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...
s. Animal fossils discovered include
bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of marine and freshwater Mollusca, molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hing ...
s,
snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class ...
s, ray-finned fishes,
frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
s,
salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...
s,
amphibian Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbo ...
s,
turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...
s, sphenodonts,
lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia altho ...
s, terrestrial (like '' Hoplosuchus'') and aquatic
crocodylomorpha Crocodylomorpha is a group of pseudosuchian archosaurs that includes the crocodilians and their extinct relatives. They were the only members of Pseudosuchia to survive the end-Triassic extinction. During Mesozoic and early Cenozoic times, cro ...
ns, cotylosaurs, several species of
pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 ...
s like '' Harpactognathus'', and early
mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur ...
s, multituberculates, symmetrodonts, and triconodonts.


Fauna and habitat in Europe

The Ornatenton Formation is a Callovian aged shallow marine deposit, within the formation ''Torvosaurus'' was
sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species s ...
with the closely related and also large '' Wiehenvenator.'' The Lourinhã Formation is Kimmeridgian-Tithonian in age. The environment is coastal, and therefore has a strong marine influence. Its flora and fauna are very similar to the Morrison. ''Torvosaurus'' appears to be the top predator here. It lived alongside European species of ''Allosaurus'' (''A. europaeus''), ''Ceratosaurus'', ''Stegosaurus'', and presumably ''
Camptosaurus ''Camptosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of plant-eating, beaked ornithischian dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic period of western North America and possibly also Europe. The name means 'flexible lizard' ( Greek (') meaning 'bent' and (') meaning 'li ...
''. The theropod '' Lourinhanosaurus'' also stalked the area. '' Lusotitan'' was the largest sauropod in the region, while the diplodocids '' Dinheirosaurus'' and ''
Lourinhasaurus ''Lourinhasaurus'' (meaning "Lourinhã lizard") was an herbivorous sauropod dinosaur genus dating from Late Jurassic strata of Estremadura, Portugal. Discovery The first find in 1949 by Harold Weston Robbins, a partial fossil skeleton fou ...
'' were also present. ''
Dacentrurus ''Dacentrurus'' (meaning "tail full of points"), originally known as ''Omosaurus'', is a genus of stegosaurian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (154 - 140 mya) of Europe. Its type species, ''Omosaurus armatus'', was named in 18 ...
'' and '' Miragaia'' were both stegosaurs, while ''
Dracopelta ''Dracopelta'' (meaning “dragon shield”) is a monospecific genus of ankylosaur dinosaur from Portugal that lived during the Late Jurassic (uppermost lower Tithonian-upper Tithonian, 152.1-145.0 Ma) in what is now the Lourinhã Formation. The ...
'' was an
ankylosauria Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. ...
n. ''
Draconyx ''Draconyx'' (meaning "dragon claw") is a genus of dinosaur from the Late Jurassic. It was an ornithopod which lived in what is now Portugal and was a herbivore. It was found in the Lourinhã Formation in 1991, and described by Octávio Mateus ...
'' was an iguanodontid related to ''Camptosaurus''. Due to the marine nature of the Lourinhã Formation, sharks, plesiochelyid turtles, and teleosaurid crocodyliforms are also present.


Fauna and habitat in Africa

The small-scale trough and ripple cross-bedded fine-grained sandstone at the base of the Upper Dinosaur Member of the
Tendaguru Formation The Tendaguru Formation, or Tendaguru Beds are a highly fossiliferous formation and Lagerstätte located in the Lindi Region of southeastern Tanzania. The formation represents the oldest sedimentary unit of the Mandawa Basin, overlying Neoproter ...
, of which possible ''Torvosaurus'' material is known from, is interpreted as tidal flat deposits. Still water bodies such as small lakes and ponds were present and a freshwater depositional environment close to the sea was also probably present. The possible unnamed ''Torvosaurus'' species from the Tendaguru Formation would have shared its habitat with many species of
sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', ' lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their ...
s, such as ''
Australodocus ''Australodocus'' (meaning "southern beam" from the Latin ''australis'' "southern" and the Greek ''dokos''/δοκоς "beam") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago, in what is now ...
'', ''
Dicraeosaurus ''Dicraeosaurus'' (Gr. , ' "bifurcated, double-headed" + Gr. , ' "lizard") is a genus of diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania during the late Jurassic period. The genus was named for the neural spines on ...
'', ''
Giraffatitan ''Giraffatitan'' (name meaning "titanic giraffe") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian stages) in what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania. It was originally named as an African species ...
'', ''
Janenschia ''Janenschia'' (named after Werner Janensch) is a large herbivorous sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Lindi Region, Tanzania around 155 million years ago. Discovery and naming ''Janenschia'' has had a convolut ...
'', ''
Tornieria ''Tornieria'' ("for Tornier") is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic in Lindi Region of Tanzania. It has a convoluted taxonomic history. Discovery and naming In 1907, German paleontologist Eberhard Fraas who wa ...
'', '' Wamweracaudia'', three unnamed species of diplodocine sauropods, an unnamed species of flagellicaudatan, and " The Archbishop". The theropods it coexisted with were '' Allosaurus tendagurensis'', '' Ceratosaurus roechlingi'', ''
Elaphrosaurus ''Elaphrosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 154 to 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period in what is now Tanzania in Africa. ''Elaphrosaurus'' was a medium-sized but lightly built m ...
'', '' Labrosaurus stechowi'', ''
Ostafrikasaurus ''Ostafrikasaurus'' is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period of what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania. It is known only from fossil teeth discovered sometime between 1909 and 1912, during an expedition to the Tendaguru Formatio ...
'', ''
Veterupristisaurus ''Veterupristisaurus'' is an extinct genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur known from the Jurassic of Tendaguru, Lindi Region of southeastern Tanzania. Discovery and naming ''Veterupristisaurus'' is known from the holotype specimen ...
'' (of which it would have possibly competed with to be top predator), a possible abelisauroid, and an indeterminate megalosauroid, while the
ornithischian Ornithischia () is an extinct order of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek st ...
s it coexisted with were '' Dysalotosaurus'' and '' Kentrosaurus''. As far as pterosaurs are concerned, it coexisted with ''
Tendaguripterus ''Tendaguripterus'' was a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian to Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Middle Saurian Beds (Tendaguru Formation) of Tendaguru, Lindi Region, Tanzania. Discovery and naming During the German paleontolog ...
'', an indeterminate archaeopterodactyloid, an indeterminate
azhdarchid Azhdarchidae (from the Persian word , , a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology) is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the Late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the Early Cre ...
, two indeterminate
dsungaripteroid Dsungaripteroidea is a group of pterosaurs within the suborder Pterodactyloidea. Evolutionary history The earliest known fossils attributed to this group are from the Kimmeridgian-age Upper Jurassic Argiles d'Octeville Formation of France, dat ...
s, an indeterminate rhamphorynchoid, and an indeterminate pterosaur of unknown classification. Due to the coastal environment of the Tendaguru Formation,
crocodyliformes Crocodyliformes is a clade of crurotarsan archosaurs, the group often traditionally referred to as "crocodilians". They are the first members of Crocodylomorpha to possess many of the features that define later relatives. They are the only pse ...
such as ''
Bernissartia ''Bernissartia'' ('of Bernissart') is an extinct genus of neosuchian crocodyliform that lived in the Early Cretaceous, around 130 million years ago. At only in length, ''Bernissartia'' is one of the smallest crocodyliforms that ever lived. ...
'',
amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbo ...
including an unnamed
lissamphibia The Lissamphibia is a group of tetrapods that includes all modern amphibians. Lissamphibians consist of three living groups: the Salientia (frogs, toads, and their extinct relatives), the Caudata (salamanders, newts, and their extinct relativ ...
n and
shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...
s are also present.


Fauna and habitat in South America

Within South America, possible ''Torvosaurus'' remains are only present within the Tacuarembó Formation of Uruguay. Because the formation was laid down in
fluvial In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluviog ...
to
lacustrine A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...
s,
siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...
s, and
mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.' ...
s, this indicates that the environment of the formation would have been dominated by
river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...
s,
streams A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams a ...
, and
lakes A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
. If present, ''Torvosaurus'' would probably have been the
apex predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic lev ...
in the Tacuarembó Formation, although it may have been rivalled by ''
cf. The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...
Ceratosaurus ''Ceratosaurus'' (from Greek κέρας/κέρατος, ' meaning "horn" and σαῦρος ' meaning "lizard") was a carnivorous theropod dinosaur in the Late Jurassic period ( Kimmeridgian to Tithonian). The genus was first described in 1 ...
''. It shared its habitat with two unnamed
theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
s, an unnamed coelurosaur, an unnamed
sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', ' lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their ...
known solely from footprints, an unnamed
ornithopod Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (), that started out as small, bipedal running grazers and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous w ...
also known from footprints, an indeterminate
mesoeucrocodylia Mesoeucrocodylia is the clade that includes Eusuchia and crocodyliforms formerly placed in the paraphyletic group Mesosuchia. The group appeared during the Early Jurassic, and continues to the present day. Diagnosis It was long known that Mes ...
n, an indeterminate
turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...
species which lived alongside the named turtle species '' Tacuarembemys kusterae'', and the possible pholidosaur '' Meridiosaurus vallisparadisi''.
Fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...
such as '' Arganodus tiguidiensis'', '' Asiatoceratodus cf. tiguidensis'', '' Neoceratodus africanus'', and '' Priohybodus arambourgi'', and
bivalves Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...
such as ''
Diplodon ''Diplodon'' is a genus of freshwater pearly mussel, an aquatic bivalve in the Hyriidae family. The genus includes the following species: * '' Diplodon chilensis'' * '' Diplodon dunkerianus'' * '' Diplodon expansus'' * '' Diplodon fontaineanus' ...
'' are also present.


Coexistence with other large carnivores

''Torvosaurus'' coexisted with other large theropods such as ''
Allosaurus ''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch ( Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alludin ...
'', ''
Ceratosaurus ''Ceratosaurus'' (from Greek κέρας/κέρατος, ' meaning "horn" and σαῦρος ' meaning "lizard") was a carnivorous theropod dinosaur in the Late Jurassic period ( Kimmeridgian to Tithonian). The genus was first described in 1 ...
'', and '' Saurophaganax'' in the United States, ''Allosaurus'', ''Ceratosaurus'', and '' Lourinhanosaurus'' in Portugal, possibly ''
Veterupristisaurus ''Veterupristisaurus'' is an extinct genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur known from the Jurassic of Tendaguru, Lindi Region of southeastern Tanzania. Discovery and naming ''Veterupristisaurus'' is known from the holotype specimen ...
'' in Tanzania and possibly ''
cf. The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...
Ceratosaurus (?)'' in Uruguay. The three, possibly four, species appear to have had different
ecological niche In ecology, a niche is the match of a species to a specific environmental condition. Three variants of ecological niche are described by It describes how an organism or population responds to the distribution of resources and competitors (for ...
s, based on anatomy and the location of fossils. ''Torvosaurus'' and ''Ceratosaurus'' may have preferred to be active around waterways, and had lower, more sinuous, bodies that would have given them an advantage in forest and underbrush terrains, whereas ''Allosaurus'' had shorter bodies, longer legs, were faster but less maneuverable, and seem to have preferred dry floodplains. Also, Rauhut et al. (2016) proposed that allosaurids and megalosaurids would have had different environmental preferences, the former being more common in inland areas while the latter being dominant in marine and coastal environments. On the other hand, the majority of ''Torvosaurus'' remains from the Morrison Formation have been found in localities preserving multiple taxa, including ''Allosaurus,'' with ''Torvosaurus'' itself being a minor component of the bonebeds. This pattern has been interpreted as indicative of ''Torvosaurus'' sharing habitats with other predators, most notably ''Allosaurus'', but at much lower abundances. The three may also have had different dietary preferences, with ''Allosaurus'' being more suited for bone slicing thanks to its short and stout serrated teeth, deep but narrow skull and powerful dorsoventral movement capacity of the neck, while ''Ceratosaurus,'' with its long and blade-like teeth and relatively straight neck would have probably been incapable of doing so, instead concentrating on the deepest organs of a carcass. While probably capable of some bone consumption, ''Torvosaurus,'' with its big skull and teeth and large powerful and lithe body may have been specialized in opening up and dismembering exceptionally large sauropod carcasses - which would have allowed smaller theropods like ''Allosaurus'' better access, in a possible
commensalism Commensalism is a long-term biological interaction (symbiosis) in which members of one species gain benefits while those of the other species neither benefit nor are harmed. This is in contrast with mutualism, in which both organisms benefit fr ...
relationship. ''Allosaurus'' was itself a potential food item to other carnivores, as illustrated by an ''Allosaurus'' pubic foot marked by the teeth of another theropod, probably ''Ceratosaurus'' or ''Torvosaurus''. The location of the bone in the body (along the bottom margin of the torso and partially shielded by the legs), and the fact that it was among the most massive in the skeleton, indicates that the ''Allosaurus'' was being scavenged. Bite marks on ''
Allosaurus ''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch ( Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alludin ...
'' and ''
Mymoorapelta ''Mymoorapelta'' (Meaning "Vannetta Moore and Pete and Marilyn Mygatt's shield" after a combination of the names of the discoverers of the Mygatt-Moore Quarry that fossils were originally collected from, and pɛltə "shield") is a monospecific ...
'' remains were found among other bones with feeding traces in the Upper Jurassic Mygatt-Moore Quarry. Unlike the others, these have left striations that, when measured to determine denticle width, produced tooth and body size extrapolations greater than any known specimen of ''Allosaurus'' or ''
Ceratosaurus ''Ceratosaurus'' (from Greek κέρας/κέρατος, ' meaning "horn" and σαῦρος ' meaning "lizard") was a carnivorous theropod dinosaur in the Late Jurassic period ( Kimmeridgian to Tithonian). The genus was first described in 1 ...
'', the two large predators known for osteological remains from the quarry. The extrapolations are instead coherent either with an unusually large specimen of ''Allosaurus'', or a separate large taxon like ''Torvosaurus'' or '' Saurophaganax,'' both of which are not known from the quarry''.'' The result either increases the known diversity of the site based on ichnological evidence alone, or represents powerful evidence of cannibalism in ''Allosaurus''. Based on the position and nutrient value associated with the various skeletal elements with bite marks, it is predicted that while ''Mymoorapelta'' was either predated upon or scavenged shortly after death, ''Allosaurus'' was scavenged some time after death.


References


External links


''Largest Predatory Dinosaur in Europe Found'' at nationalgeographic
{{Taxonbar, from=Q131537 Megalosaurs Kimmeridgian life Tithonian life Late Jurassic dinosaurs of North America Jurassic United States Fossils of the United States Paleontology in Colorado Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation Late Jurassic dinosaurs of Europe Jurassic Portugal Fossils of Portugal Lourinhã Formation Fossil taxa described in 1979 Taxa named by Peter Galton Taxa named by James A. Jensen