MEGALOSAUR

(genus Megalosaurus), carnivorous dinosaur (suborder Theropoda) found in fossils of the Early to Late Jurassic Period (208 to 144 million years ago) in Europe and North Africa. One of the first dinosaur finds of the early 19th century (by William Buckland), the megalosaur was orginally described on the basis of a lower jaw fragment with some daggerlike teeth. It was later determined to be a middle- to large-sized obligatory biped and predator with short arms and clawed grasping hands. The jaws carried long serrated bladelike teeth, much like those in the allosaur (Allosaurus) and other large theropods, to which it must have been closely related.