page_title: Megalosaurus
section_title: Species named in the 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Megalosaurus / Species and synonyms / Species named in the 20th century
caption_attribution_description: Mold of the left dentary of "Zanclodon" cambrensis (aka "Newtonsaurus").
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 1901 Baron Franz Nopcsa renamed Laelaps trihedrodon Cope 1877 into Megalosaurus trihedrodon. In the same publication Nopcsa renamed Poekilopleuron valens Leidy 1870 into Megalosaurus valens; this probably represents fossil material of Allosaurus. In 1902, Nopcsa named Megalosaurus hungaricus based on two teeth found in Transylvania, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary. The specimens, MAFI ob. 3106, were later lost. It represents an indeterminate theropod. In 1903, Louis Dollo named Megalosaurus lonzeensis based on a manual claw found near Lonzee in Belgium. He had first reported this claw in 1883, and as a result some sources by mistake indicate this year as the date of the naming. It perhaps represents a member of the Noasauridae, or an indeterminate member of the Coelurosauria. In 1907/1908, von Huene renamed Streptospondylus cuvieri Owen 1842, based on a presently lost partial vertebra, into Megalosaurus cuvieri. This is today seen as a nomen dubium, an indeterminate member of the Tetanurae. In 1909, Richard Lydekker named Megalosaurus woodwardi, based on a maxilla with tooth, specimen BMNH 41352. This is today seen as a nomen dubium, an indeterminate member of the Theropoda.
  In 1910, Arthur Smith Woodward named Megalosaurus bradleyi based on a skull from the Middle Jurassic, the specific name honouring the collector F. Lewis Bradley. In 1926, this was made a separate genus Proceratosaurus. In 1920, Werner Janensch named Megalosaurus ingens, "the enormous", based on specimen MB R 1050, a twelve centimetre long tooth from German East Africa. It possibly represents a large member of the Carcharodontosauridae; Carrano e.a. saw it as an indeterminate member of the Tetanurae. In 1923, von Huene renamed Poekilopleuron bucklandii Eudes-Deslongchamps 1838 into Megalosaurus poikilopleuron. Today, the genus Poekilopleuron is generally seen as valid. In the same publication, von Huene named two additional Megalosaurus species. The first was Megalosaurus parkeri, its specific name honouring William Kitchen Parker and based on a pelvis, leg bones and vertebrae from the Late Cretaceous. This was made the separate genus Metriacanthosaurus in 1964. The second was Megalosaurus nethercombensis, named after its provenance from Nethercombe and based on two dentaries, leg bones, a pelvis and vertebrae from the Middle Jurassic, which von Huene himself in 1932 made the separate genus Magnosaurus. In 1925, Depéret, based on two teeth from Algeria, named Megalosaurus saharicus. In 1931/1932 this was made the separate genus Carcharodontosaurus. In 1956 von Huene by mistake named the same species as Megalosaurus africanus, intending to base it on remains from Morocco but referring the Algerian teeth; this implies that M. africanus is a junior objective synonym of M. saharicus. In 1926, von Huene named Megalosaurus lydekkeri, its specific name honouring Richard Lydekker, based on BMNH 41352, i.e. the same specimen that had already been made the holotype of M. woodwardi (Lydekker, 1909). This implies that M. lydekkeri is a junior objective synonym of M. woodwardi. It is likewise seen as a nomen dubium. In the same publication von Huene named Megalosaurus terquemi based on three teeth found near Hettingen, its specific name honouring Olry Terquem. It is seen as a nomen dubium, the fossil material probably representing some member of the Phytosauria or some other archosaur. In 1932, a work by von Huene mentioned a Megalosaurus (Magnosaurus) woodwardi, a synonym of Magnosaurus woodwardi named in the same book. Its type specimen is differing from the earlier Megalosaurus woodwardi (Lydekker, 1909), the two names are not synonyms. In 1954 Samuel Welles named Megalosaurus wetherilli. This species is exceptional in being based on a rather complete skeleton, found in Arizona, from the Early Jurassic. Its specific name honours John Wetherill. In 1970, Welles made this the separate genus Dilophosaurus. In 1955, Albert-Félix de Lapparent named Megalosaurus mersensis based on a series of twenty-three vertebrae found near Tizi n'Juillerh in a layer of the 
caption: Dentary of ?Megalosaurus cambrensis. Lithograph by Newton in 1899
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2011:12:19 18:54:24", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5898", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1483", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "879"}