Torvosaurus

Torvosaurus; Temporal range: Upper Jurassic
	Mounted Torvosaurus skeleton in the Museum of Ancient Life, Utah
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Family:	Megalosauridae
Genus:	Torvosaurus; Galton & Jensen, 1979

Torvosaurus was a large carnivorous dinosaur, from the Upper Jurassic. It lived about 153 to 148 million years ago in what is now Colorado and Portugal.

Torvosaurus, possibly the largest carnivore of its time,^[1] was a large, heavily-built, bipedal carnivore. It grew to 9 to 11 meters (30 to 36 ft) in length and an estimated weight of about 2 metric tons (2.2 tons). Its hands and arms were about average for its size. In proportion, Allosaurus had more powerful arms, and T. rex had tiny arms.

Studies suggest that the paleoenvironment of this part of the Morrison Formation had rivers flowing from the west into a basin with a giant, saline alkaline lake. There were extensive wetlands nearby. Fossils from the Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry of western Colorado show one of the most diverse Upper Jurassic vertebrate assemblages in the world.^[2] The Dry Mesa Quarry has produced the remains of the sauropods Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Barosaurus, Supersaurus, Dystylosaurus, Camarasaurus, the iguanodontid Camptosaurus, and the theropods Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus and Ornitholestes, as well as Dryosaurus, and Stegosaurus.^[3]

References

↑ Hendrickx C. & Mateus O.V. 2014. Torvosaurus gurneyi n. sp., the largest terrestrial predator from Europe, and a proposed terminology of the maxilla anatomy in nonavian theropods. PLoS ONE 9 (3): e88905. [1]
↑ Richmond D.R. & Morris T.H. 1999. Stratigraphy and cataclysmic deposition of the Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry, Mesa County, Colorado. In Carpenter K; Kirkland J. and Chure D. eds. The Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation: An Interdisciplinary Study. Modern Geology 22, no. 1-4, pp. 121–143.
↑ Chure, Daniel J.; et al. (2006). "The fauna and flora of the Morrison Formation: 2006". Paleontology and geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 36. Albuquerque, New Mexico. pp. 233–248.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[1] Hendrickx C. & Mateus O.V. 2014. Torvosaurus gurneyi n. sp., the largest terrestrial predator from Europe, and a proposed terminology of the maxilla anatomy in nonavian theropods. PLoS ONE 9 (3): e88905. [1]

[2] Richmond D.R. & Morris T.H. 1999. Stratigraphy and cataclysmic deposition of the Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry, Mesa County, Colorado. In Carpenter K; Kirkland J. and Chure D. eds. The Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation: An Interdisciplinary Study. Modern Geology 22, no. 1-4, pp. 121–143.

[DJCetal06-3] Chure, Daniel J.; et al. (2006). "The fauna and flora of the Morrison Formation: 2006". Paleontology and geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 36. Albuquerque, New Mexico. pp. 233–248.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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