Megalosaurus

Name meaning: Giant Lizard

Time Period: Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) 165-168 Mya

Locations: England

Taxonomy: Theropoda-Megalosauridae

Subspecies: M. bucklandii

Characteristics ~ ~ ~ ~

Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur described to science, and ironically, is one of the least understood dinosaurs. With not much fossil material to go off of most of our idea of megalosaurus is based on other megalosaurids. It’s estimated to be around 20ft long and 1,500 pounds. Megalosaurus lived with many other dinosaurs known from dubious remains, including species of stegosaurs, other theropods, ankylosaurs, therizinosaurs, heterodontosaurs and Cetiosaurus; which is the oldest known species of sauropod.

Mario Lanzas also made the Antediluvian short film attached bellow

He actually has 3 different Illustrations, it was hard to pick one, for now

History & Fossils ~ ~ ~ ~

Scrotum Hummanum was a Megalosaurus femur first described in 1676 believed to belong to a Roman War elephant. Later in 1763, it would be redesignated and get its one species Scrotum Hummanum believed to be the thighbone of a giant man. They named it Scrotum because the bone looked like a nutsack and this means that the first ever dinosaur would be named Scrotum. The Claude dinosauria wasn't described till 1842. 1824 Megalosaurus was officially named by James Buckland and described alongside Plesiosaurus in collaboration with fellow paleontologist William Conybeare. Megalosaurus, being the oldest dinosaur it is one of the most wastebasket taxons to ever wastebasket taxon with around 20+ species of megalosaurus being named. Many once species of Megalosaurus are now well-known and popular genera of dinosaur like

Megalosaurus wetherilli = Dilophosaurus ‬wetherilli

Megalosaurus saharicus = Carcharodontosaurus saharicus

Megalosaurus parkeri = Metricanthosaurus parkeri

Megalosaurus bradleyi = Proceratosaurus bradleyi

Megalosaurus ingens = Torvosaurus ingens

Despite this there is only one species of Megalosaurus still valid to this day M. ‬bucklandii named after James Buckland

Media Deptictions ~ ~ ~ ~

Jurassic World Mobile Games Lumping both of these together because I think they both look awful. Jwtg Megalosaurus is an abomination, it’s like a dumpster fire that not even the cockroaches would stick around. It’s even worse than your browser history. It’s head is shaped like a right triangle with indents in the jugal and lips even though the head is fat as. It has Wuerhosaurus plates running down its back and two aye aye like fingers that you could pick your own nose with. The Jwa model is leagues better, but I still hate the medium theropod animation set so I wouldn’t really call it good.

Jurassic World Evolution 2 It was packaged in the deluxe edition; I never use it. It has no significant patterns or colors, and feels small compared to the rest of the carnivores. And it doesn’t look like a Megalosaurus because it’s face is too broad. I used Huyangosaurus more than it, and it’s what I would consider to be the only bad species in the pack, but substancially better than the mobile games.

Dinosauria Megalosaurus & Iguanodon are the two stars of the first short film of season 2 Terrible Lizards. It follows a battle between the two set between various ages of dinosaur history such being the 1800's, 1950's, 1990's, and the Modern age. With the cinematography, film techinque, and dinosaur designs changing to match the era's. Please watch it bellow with the coresponding making of video and consider joining Dead Sound's Patreon

"Terrible Lizards" | Dinosauria Series | Animated Short Film (2025)