Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image courtesy of Torvosaurus gurneyi Hendrickx & Mateus 2014/PLOS One
Scientists have discovered the fossil of a new carnivorous dinosaur, that they believe could be the largest to roam Europe during the Jurassic period.
The fossilised remains of a 10m, five tonne Torvosaurus gurneyi, with blade-shaped 10cm teeth were uncovered in the rock Lourinhã Formation, Portugal, in 2003 by an amateur fossil hunter.
Researchers originally mistook the fossil as that of North American dinosaur Torvosaurus tanneri, but closer examination of bones showed it to be of a new species of “super-predator”.
In a study published in the journal PLOS One, Christophe Hendrickx, a palaeontologist at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Museu da Lourinhã in Portugal, said that this discovery ties in with fossilised embryos found in Portugal last year.
With a skull of 1.15m Torvosaurus gurneyi was not as large as the Tyrannosaurus, but it may have been the largest predator in Europe during the Jurassic period, around 80 million years earlier.
The genus name ‘Torvosaurus’ means ‘savage lizard’, and its species name ‘gurneyi’, is a tribute to James Gurney, who wrote and illustrated the popular ‘Dinotopia’ series of books that have sparked interest in dinosaurs in children and adults alike for the last two decades.
