What is a Metriacanthosaurus?
Metriacanthosaurus was a carnivorous dinosaur that lived in what is now England. It lived during the Middle Jurassic, approximately 160 million years ago.. There are not many remains of this specimen.
But reconstructions suggest that it could have measured between 7 and 10 meters long from snout to tail. What is known about this prehistoric animal is from a partial skeleton.
And yet paleontologists have been able to identify it as a species of large carnivorous dinosaur. Its closest relative was the Megalosaurus which is part of the same group.
But as the years passed and a greater variety of theropods was discovered, with more characteristics worthy of comparison, it was assigned its own family.
A Metriacanthosaurus skull was never found. But from what has been understood, it is thought that it was related to other large carnivorous dinosaurs of its family. More specifically those that are part of the Metriacanthosauridae.
The most notable are 2 Chinese specimens known as Sinraptor and Yangchuanosaurus. If it had looked like them, it would probably have a short and deep skull, along with long, proportional and curved teeth facing backwards. In other words, they would be ideal teeth to catch their prey.
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Finding of the Metriacanthosaurus
It all began in 1923 when Friedrich von Huene examined fossil remains that included an incomplete hip, a partial spine, and a leg bone. He thus detailed a publication about a species he named Megalosaurus parkeri. Later in 1932 he concluded that it was actually a species of Altispinaz A. Parkeri.
The researcher Alick Walker in 1964 decided that these fossils did not fit with this classification. That’s why he named it Metriacanthosaurus. At first it was thought that it belonged to the Spinosauridae since it was assumed that they would have had a sail on their back.
But this species was older, with a span of 30 million years apart.. This could actually place it as a basal version.
What does Metriacanthosaurus mean?
The name originates from the Greek term metrikos what does it mean moderate. It is also composed of Akanatha which translates as spine. It was chosen to refer to its vertebrae which were high. More than in the Acrocanthosaurus.
The epithet walkeri It was added to honor W. Parker who found the remains on a cliff at Weymouth.
The family Metriacanthosauridae
This is a group of carnivorous allosauroid theropods. It was made up of large predators that could measure up to 10 meters in length. They are carnosaurs that were initially classified within the Megalosauridae or Allosauridae.
Researchers Xu and Clarke started from the analysis of a giant tooth that belonged to a large synoptorid theropod in 2008 to classify this clade.
Paul Sereno in 2005 defined the Sinraptoridae as the broad monophyletic group that contains the Sinraptor dongi and all species related to Sinraptor, Allosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus.
Carson, Sampson and Benson indicated in 2012 that the name should be used Metriacanthosauridae as a priority over Sinraptoridae.
In addition, they named a new subfamily as Metriacanthosaurinae in which metriacanthosaurids are classified more closely related to Metriacanthosaurus than to Metriacanthosaurus. Xuanhunosaurus which is understood to be the most ancient metracanthosaurid.
They have placed themselves outside this family both Poekilopleuron as Lourinhanosaurus, along with many other taxa that branch within the Metriacanthosauridae. However, the position of the latter is uncertain and their expulsion from the group offers a simplification of the clade.
Metriacanthosaurus Vs Megalosaurus
The close relationship between Metriacanthosaurus and Megalosaurus is worthy of comparison, since everything indicates that they were very similar. If we were to imagine a confrontation between the two, who would win?
Metriacanthosaurus parkeri
Let’s remember the characteristics of this species. It was a genus of metriacanthosaurid dinosaur that was found in the upper Oxford Clay in England. Its dating is 160 million years old.. Gregory S. Paul estimated in 1988 that she weighed about 1 ton.
Its name was chosen due to the height of its neural spines, which were very tall for theropods in general. It is estimated that it was similar to Sinraptor, Ceratosaurus and of course Megalosaurus.
Megalosaurus bucklandi
The Megalosaurus or Great Lizard, was one of the large carnivorous theropods of the Middle Jurassic. It was the first genus of dinosaur to be described and named. It was an ordinary theropod. It had the same as others of its kind, a large head and large teeth. It is estimated that it measured almost 10 meters and that its body volume was 700 to 1100 kg. Like any predator, it had aggressive and dominant behavior.
Result of the confrontation
Due to the similar characteristics of both species it is difficult to know who would have won. They were very similar in size, weight and both had a great chance of winning. Therefore it is a situation similar to a tie.
Well, not exactly since these animals would take the fight to the last consequences. Therefore one had to die. Only the chances were 50% to 50%.
This implies that both Metriacanthosaurus and Megalosaurus were capable of being the winners.
Characteristics of the Metriacanthosaurus
The study of the fossils found of this species has allowed us to recognize a great variety of characteristics and particularities in the species. Get to know them below.
Classification
This family, together with the Allosauridea, Carcharodontosauridae and Neovenatoridae, make up the most basal group of the Allosauroidea.
From an internal point of view the Metriacanthosauridae can be assigned to the subfamily Metriacanthosarurinae with the Metriacanthosaurus, Siamotyrannus and Sinraptor.
It is possible that this should be added to Shidaisaurus which faces the genus Yangchuanosaurus with at least two species in a sister taxon.
The Xuanhanosaurus is also part of the Metricanthosauridae, but greater precision cannot be given to the group. It has also been seen as a basal representative of Allosauroidea.
On the other hand, there is usually no clear position of Siamotyrannus, which is usually related to a basal Coelurosauria. He Erectopus which was also preserved only in fragments could be another representative of the group.
Habitat
Since it was a medium-sized theropod, it lived mostly in terrestrial areas with dense vegetation. In these areas lived a large number of herbivores that the Metriacanthosaurus fed on.
He lived in what was Pangea, in what is now Europe, in the Nubiar island chain and on the island of Sorna. These islands no longer exist today.
With whom I lived
This dinosaur was a violent, voracious and very unsociable predator. However, it must have coexisted with other carnivorous dinosaurs that were the same or smaller in size.. This was useful for hunting or defending against other larger predators.
It is to be expected that the other dinosaurs it would have coexisted with were the size of Deinonychus or even Tyrannosaurus rex. But generally it was not an animal that was very compatible with others.
Life expectancy
Due to the lack of a sufficient number of fossils of the species, it is not possible to establish how long a Metriacanthosaurus could live exactly. However, specialists estimate that its life expectancy was similar to that of all Megalosaurids, with a life expectancy of 80 years.
Reproduction
Like all reptiles, Metriacanthosaur mated during a mating season. The female laid eggs that hatched after a certain time. This is how newborn individuals emerged. These were cared for by adults, until the moment of their greatest physical independence.
Bones
The limited fossil remains of Metriacanthosaurus do not allow us to know what its skeletal structure was like. However, the reconstruction that has been made of it is based on what is known about its relative, the Megalosaurus.
From this it is estimated that would have had a comparatively short and wide skull. Added to this were long, backward-curving teeth that were ideal for biting large prey. Especially other dinosaurs.
Its feet would have been as large as the feet of other theropod species. They were bipedal, so they would have had large hind legs and much smaller front legs. The latter would have tiny hands with small fingers.
Communication
There is also no strict reference for how precisely he communicated. But just as the other dinosaurs did, it is to be expected that they made sounds similar to growling. Body language would also be very important in this. As predators, these growls would be high-pitched and would possibly be made when hunting to ask for help from their peers.
Speed
Since it fed on other herbivorous dinosaurs, it’s quite likely that it didn’t need to deploy too quickly. Its estimated speed is 24 to 32 kilometers per hour.
Feeding
The Metriacanthosaurus was a strong and agile hunter, organizing ambushes to obtain valuable prey in an open space.. They used all their movement capacity to use their teeth and catch the animals that were their food. Some of his favorites were Microceratus, Parasaurolophus, and solitary ceratopsians. In addition, it was also an opportunistic scavenger.
Poisonous?
Curiously, it was the only dinosaur that had poison. According to research, they used it to hunt and also to defend themselves from other dinosaurs.
When did Metriacanthosaurus become extinct?
The end of dinosaurs as the dominant species came 66 million years ago, when the Cretaceous period ended. That was a consequence of the fall of a meteorite of almost 10 kilometers in what is now Mexico.
But in the case of Metriacanthosaurus whose bones date back to 160 million yearsit is evident that they disappeared long before this, for reasons that cannot be known due to the limited fossil evidence on this species.