page_title: Megalosaurus
section_title: Species named in the 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Megalosaurus / Species and synonyms / Species named in the 19th century
caption_attribution_description: Figs. 1-3. A portion of the mandible with teeth of the Megalosaurus Bucklandi; nat. size. The foregoing figures are taken, with the permission of his Grace the Duke of Marlborough, from a specimen in his Grace's collection, from the Oolitic Slate, of Stonesfield, Oxfordshire. Fig. 4. Side-view of a full-sized tooth of the Megalosaurus. Fig. 5. A portion of a tooth of Megalosaurus, from the Inferior Oolite, of Selsly Hill, Gloucestershire. In the British Museum.
context_page_description: Megalosaurus is an extinct genus of large meat-eating theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period of Southern England. Although fossils from other areas have been assigned to the genus, the only certain remains of Megalosaurus come from Oxfordshire and date to the late Middle Jurassic.
  Megalosaurus was, in 1824, the first genus of non-avian dinosaur to be validly named. The type species is Megalosaurus bucklandii, named in 1827. In 1842, Megalosaurus was one of three genera on which Richard Owen based his Dinosauria. On Owen's directions a model was made as one of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, which greatly increased the public interest for prehistoric reptiles. Subsequently, over fifty other species would be classified under the genus, originally because dinosaurs were not well known, but even during the 20th century after many dinosaurs had been discovered. Today it is understood these additional species were not directly related to M. bucklandii, which is the only true Megalosaurus species. Because a complete skeleton of it has never been found, much is still unclear about its build.
context_section_description: In 1857, Joseph Leidy renamed Deinodon horridus (Leidy, 1856) into Megalosaurus horridus, the "frightening one", a genus based on teeth. In 1858, Friedrich August Quenstedt named Megalosaurus cloacinus, based on a probable Late Triassic theropod tooth found near Bebenhausen, specimen SMNH 52457. It is a nomen dubium. In 1869 Eugène Eudes-Deslongchamps named Megalosaurus insignis, the "significant", based on a theropod tooth found near La Hève in Normandy that was twelve centimetres long, a third longer than the teeth of M. bucklandii. The name at first remained a nomen nudum, but a description was provided, in 1870, by Gustave Lennier. Today, it is considered a nomen dubium, an indeterminate member of the Theropoda, the specimen having in 1944 been destroyed by a bombardment. In 1870, Jean-Baptiste Greppin named Megalosaurus meriani based on specimen MH 350, a premaxillary tooth found near Moutier and part of the collection of Peter Merian. Today, this is either referred to Ceratosaurus or seen as a nomen dubium, an indeterminate member of the Ceratosauria. In 1871, Emanuel Bunzel named remains found near Schnaitheim Megalosaurus schnaitheimi. It is a nomen nudum, the fossils possibly belonging to Dakosaurus maximus. In 1876, J. Henry, a science teacher at Besançon, in a published dissertation named four Late Triassic possible dinosaur teeth found near Moissey Megalosaurus obtusus, "the blunt one". It is a nomen dubium, perhaps a theropod or some indeterminate predatory archosaur. In 1881, Harry Govier Seeley named two possible theropod teeth found in Austria Megalosaurus pannoniensis. The specific name refers to Pannonia. It is a nomen dubium, possibly an indeterminate member of the Dromaeosauridae or Tyrannosauroidea. In 1883, Seeley named Megalosaurus bredai, based on a thighbone, specimen BMNH 42997 found near Maastricht, the Netherlands. The specific name honours Jacob Gijsbertus Samuël van Breda. In 1932, this was made a separate genus Betasuchus by Friedrich von Huene.
  In 1882, Henri-Émile Sauvage named remains found at Louppy-le-Château, teeth and vertebrae from the Early Cretaceous, Megalosaurus superbus, "the proud one". In 1923, this became the genus Erectopus. In 1884/1885, Wilhelm Barnim Dames, based on specimen UM 84, a tooth from the Early Cretaceous, named Megalosaurus dunkeri, the specific name honouring Wilhelm Dunker. In 1923, this was made a separate genus Altispinax. In 1885, Joseph Henri Ferdinand Douvillé renamed Dakosaurus gracilis Quenstedt 1885 into Megalosaurus gracilis. Today the renaming is generally rejected. In 1889, Richard Lydekker named Megalosaurus oweni, the specific name honouring Owen, based on a series of metatarsals from the Early Cretaceous, specimen BMNH R2556. In 1991, this was made a separate genus Valdoraptor. In 1892, Edward Drinker Cope renamed Ceratosaurus nasicornis Marsh 1884 into Megalosaurus nasicornis. This had been largely motivated by a desire to annoy his rival Othniel Charles Marsh and the name has found no acceptance. In 1896, Charles Jean Julien Depéret named Megalosaurus crenatissimus, "the much crenelated", based on remains from the Late Cretaceous found in Madagascar. In 1955 this was made a separate genus Majungasaurus. The generic name Laelaps, used by Cope to denote a theropod, had been preoccupied by a mite. Marsh had therefore provided the replacement name Dryptosaurus, but Henry Fairfield Osborn, a partisan of Cope, rejected this replacement and thus in 1898 renamed Laelaps aquilunguis Cope 1866 into Megalosaurus aquilunguis.
caption: Dentary with replacement teeth, found in 1851 and in 1857 by Owen referred to Megalosaurus, but now lost. 1800s illustration by J. Erxleben
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