Updated 08:02 PM EDT, Thu, Mar 28, 2024

Fossil of Europe's Biggest Dinosaur Found in Portugal

  • +
  • -
  • Sign up to receive the lastest news from LATINONE

The remains of the largest carnivorous dinosaur to ever live in Europe have been unearthed in Portugal.

The dinosaur, which is 33 feet long, is called Torvosaurus gurneyi, and it was the biggest bully in Europe during the Jurassic Period, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

"It was indeed better not to cross the way of this large, carnivorous dinosaur," said paleontologist Christophe Hendrickx of Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Museu da Lourinha in Portugal.

The dinosaur was bipedal, weighed over 5,500 pounds and had a skull almost 4 feet long with powerful jaws lined with blade-shaped teeth. It also may have been covered with a type of feather, Hendrickx said.

"Torvosaurus gurneyi was obviously a super predator feeding on large prey like herbivorous dinosaurs," he said.

The species' remains were excavated in Portugal by an amateur fossil hunter in 2003 in the rock cliffs of Lourinha, a small town north of Lisbon. Hendrickx said fossilized embryos that most likely belonged to the species were identified in Portugal last year.

When the Torvosaurus walked the earth, Europe was a lush river delta with lots of fresh water and vegetation. The area had dinosaurs as well as flying reptiles known as pterosaurs, primitive birds, turtles, and crocodiles.

Plant-eating dinosaurs in the area included the big, long-necked Lusotitan, the armored Dracopelta and the spiky-tailed Miragaia.

Scientists say it is the second species of the genus Torvosaurus. The other one, Torvosaurus tanneri, lived at the same time in North America. It lived in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and was identified in 1979.

Torvosaurus means "savage lizard," and its species name, gurneyi, honors James Gurney, the author and illustrator of the "Dinotopia" book series.

While there were many other meat-eating dinos besides the Torvosaurus, the Torvosaurus was a fossil for 80 million years before the T-Rex ever walked the earth.

© 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
  • Sign up to receive the lastest news from LATINONE
Close

Curiosidades

Real Time Analytics