Torvosaurus

Before formal naming or identification, this organism was known as the following on this wiki:
**"Brontoraptor"**

## Statistics

### Species

*T. tanneri
T. gurneyi
T.* sp. ("*T. ingens*") (unnamed)

### Synonyms

*Edmarka
"Brontoraptor"
Megalosaurus ingens?
Ceratosaurus ingens?
Megalosaurus? tanneri*

### Location

Europe and North America (Colorado, Portugal)

### Diet

Carnivorous

*Torvosaurus* is a carnivorous Megalosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic in Europe and North America.

## Description

In 1979 *Torvosaurus* was officially and formally named. The theropod was a heavily built, large carnivorous dinosaur that had shorter and powerful arms with long claws; albeit its arms were still comparably larger than several other theropod species.

   Fossilized remains of *Torvosaurus* have been found in North America, Portugal, Germany, and possibly also England, Tanzania, and Uruguay. The first discovered remains referable to *Torvosaurus* were discovered in 1899 by Elmer Riggs in the "Freeze-out Hills" of southeastern Wyoming. The specimen was assigned to *Torvosaurus tanneri* after being redescribed in 2014. More remains of a large theropod that is now believed to have been *Torvosaurus* were discovered in the Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania.

*Torvosaurus* may have been the largest predator of the time along with more dubious species such as the *Epanterias* and potentially even larger theropods such as *Saurophaganax*. The size estimates of this particular theropod varies. The most well known size estimations are provided by Molina-Pérez & Larramendi. They estimated T. gurneyi at 11.7 meters in length and 3.1 meters in height, with a weight of 4 tonnes.

They also estimated *T. tanneri* at 11.9 meters in length, 3.1 meters in height, and 4.1 tonnes in weight; while '*Edmarka rex*'; a specimen that is interpreted to attain a rather large size, and even impressed the original paleontologist that discovered it; is predicted to have been 12 meters long, 3.1 meters high and 4.2 tonnes in weight. Revised estimates performed in 2014 suggested a slightly smaller total body size for this specimen, of about 10 meters. The reconstructed mounted skeleton of the "Elvis" specimen mesures over 9.14 meters.

In 2013 destroyed eggs that belonged to *Torvosaurus* were found. Scientists were able to assign fossil eggs to *Torvosaurus*. This tells us how dinosaur embryos developed over time; although there is not other inclination about the theropods behavior on its life story neither parental care.

## Paleoecology

An *Allosaurus* pubic foot was discovered with teeth marks made by either *Ceratosaurus* or *Torvosaurus*, suggesting a degree of conflict; similar to many, rather well known modern examples of interspecies conflicts we see today; on modern ecological habitats; such as savanna's, rainforests and forests. Some paleontologists, on the other hand, have suggested the three species had different niches to avoid this.

## Classification

The name "Brontoraptor" was coined by Robert Bakker in 1990s. The animal may have have thick bones and had a bulky build. "Brontoraptor" is a nomen nudum, and not officially described. It was intended to be named from TATE 0012, but the specimen is now subsumed into *Torvosaurus tanneri*.

## References

* https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088905
* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3943790/
* https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08912963.2013.853056?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=ghbi20
* https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020JSAES..9802458S
* https://dinosaursandbarbarians.com/2015/08/08/torvosaurus-the-grizzly-bear-of-the-jurassic/
* https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08912963.2013.807254
* https://peerj.com/articles/4963/
* https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs41513-017-0003-9
* https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260561984\_Torvosaurus\_gurneyi\_n\_sp\_the\_Largest\_Terrestrial\_Predator\_from\_Europe\_and\_a\_Proposed\_Terminology\_of\_the\_Maxilla\_Anatomy\_in\_Nonavian\_Theropods
* https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228495495\_Torvosaurus\_sp\_Dinosauria\_Theropoda\_in\_the\_Late\_Jurassic\_of\_Portugal
* https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315862828\_New\_data\_on\_the\_anatomy\_of\_Torvosaurus\_and\_other\_remains\_of\_megalosauroid\_Dinosauria\_Theropoda\_from\_the\_Upper\_Jurassic\_of\_Portugal
* https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344804876\_The\_oldest\_record\_of\_the\_genus\_Torvosaurus\_Theropoda\_Megalosauridae\_from\_the\_Callovian\_Ornatenton\_Formation\_of\_north-western\_Germany
* https://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-dinosaur-idINBREA242G620140305
* https://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1371/journal.pone.0088905
* https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S089598111930505X
* https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26452266
* https://peerj.com/articles/4963/
* https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326210538\_The\_largest\_European\_theropod\_dinosaurs\_Remains\_of\_a\_gigantic\_megalosaurid\_and\_giant\_theropod\_tracks\_from\_the\_Kimmeridgian\_of\_Asturias\_Spain
* https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780691190594-013/pdf
* https://dinosaursfromtriassic-cretaceous.fandom.com/wiki/Brontoraptor