Unranked clade
Valid Extinct

Megalosauridae

(Fitzinger 1843)

Megalosauridae is a monophyletic family of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs within the group Megalosauroidea. Appearing in the Middle Jurassic, megalosaurids were among the first major radiation of large theropod dinosaurs. They were a relatively primitive group of basal tetanurans containing two main subfamilies, Megalosaurinae and Afrovenatorinae, along with the basal genus Eustreptospondylus, an unresolved taxon which differs from both subfamilies.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
15
Group
Dinosaures
Terrestrial
Megalosauridae
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Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Megalosauridae Unranked clade
Fossil sites 15 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇫🇷 France
3
🇺🇸 United States
2
🇩🇪 Germany
2
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
1
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
1
🇨🇳 China
1
🇨🇱 Chile
1
🇳🇪 Niger
1
🇵🇹 Portugal
1
🇯🇵 Japan
1
Geological formations
Münder Mergel
2
Charmouth Mudstone
1
Balabansai
1
Toutunhe
1
Cerritos Bayos
1
Tiourarén
1
Calcaires de Clerval
1
Espichel
1
Kabu
1
Temporal distribution
Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)
2
Cenomanian (100.5–93.9 Ma)
1
Tithonian (149.2–143.1 Ma)
3
Kimmeridgian (154.8–149.2 Ma)
3
Oxfordian (161.5–154.8 Ma)
2
Callovian (165.3–161.5 Ma)
3
Sinemurian (199.5–192.9 Ma)
1
Images 3
Bibliography
Original description
L. Fitzinger. 1843. Systema Reptilium. Fasciculus Primus. Amblyglossae. Apud Braumüller and Seidel Bibliopolas, Vienna DOI ↗
Bibliography (14)
P. D. Mannion, R. Allain, and O. Moine. 2017. The earliest known titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur and the evolution of Brachiosauridae. PeerJ 5:e3217:1-82 DOI ↗
O. Gerke and O. Wings. 2016. Multivariate and cladistic analyses of isolated teeth reveal sympatry of theropod dinosaurs in the Late Jurassic of northern Germany. PLoS One 11(7):e0158334:1-52 DOI ↗
A. Serrano-Martínez , F. Ortega, and L. Sciscio, J. E. Tent-Manclús, I. F. Bandera, F. Knoll. 2015. New theropod remains from the Tiourarén Formation (?Middle Jurassic, Niger) and their bearing on the dental evolution in basal tetanurans. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 126:107-118 DOI ↗
R. Vullo, D. Abit, and M. Ballèvre, J.-P. Billon-Bruyat, R. Bourgeais, É. Buffetaut, V. Daviero-Gomez, G. Garcia, B. Gomez, J.-M. Mazin, S. Morel, D. Néraudeau, J. Pouech, J.-C. Rage, J. Schnyder, H. Tong. 2014. Palaeontology of the Purbeck-type (Tithonian, Late Jurassic) bonebeds of Chassiron (Oléron Island, western France). Comptes Rendus Palevol 13(5):421-441 DOI ↗
M. T. Carrano, R. B. J. Benson, and S. D. Sampson. 2012. The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(2):211-300 DOI ↗
M. T. Carrano. 2005. Fossil Vertebrate Collections, University of California Museum of Paleontology
Y. Laurent. 2003. Les faunes de vertébrés continentaux du Maastrichtien supérieur d'Europe: systématique et biodiversité [The continental vertebrate faunas of the upper Maastrichtian of Europe: systematics and biodiversity]. Strata, Série 2 41:1-81
V. F. dos Santos. 1998. Dinosaur tracksites in Portugal: the Jurassic-Cretaceous record. I Encontro Internacional sobre Paleobiologia dos Dinossáurios. Museu Nacional de História Natural, Lisboa
L. A. Nessov. 1995. Dinozavri severnoi Yevrazii: Novye dannye o sostave kompleksov, ekologii i paleobiogeografii [Dinosaurs of northern Eurasia: new data about assemblages, ecology, and paleobiogeography]. Institute for Scientific Research on the Earth's Crust, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg
Z. Dong. 1993. An ankylosaur (ornithischian dinosaur) from the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 31(4):257-266
A. Pharisat. 1993. Vertebres de dinosaure (Theropode) dans l’Oxfordien de Plaimbois-du-Miroir (Doubs). Societé d’Histoire Naturelle du Pays de Montbéliard 1993:191-192
R. T. Bakker, J. Siegwarth, and D. Kralis, J. Filla. 1992. Edmarka rex, a new, gigantic theropod dinosaur from the middle Morrison Formation, Late Jurassic of the Como Bluff outcrop region. Hunteria 2(9):1-24
B. H. Newman. 1968. The Jurassic dinosaur Scelidosaurus harrisoni, Owen. Palaeontology 11(1):40-43
W. Biese. 1961. El Jurásico de Cerritos Bayos [The Jurassic of Cerritos Bayos]. Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Fisicas y Matematicas, Instituto de Geología, Publicación 19:1-61