From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
Metriacanthosaurus ("moderate-spined lizard") was an Sinraptorid dinosaur from Jurassic England. It ate other dinosaurs of its time and place, including Callovosaurus and various other small herbivores. In 1923 German Paleontologist von Huene wrote a paper on Jurassic and Cretaceous European meat-eating dinosaurs. In this paper, he examined a few specimens including an incomplete hip, a leg bone, and part of a backbone, and believed it was a new species of Megalosaurus.
In the 1960s, however, scientist Alick Walker decided they were too different from Megalosaurus and named it a new species, Metricanthosaurus. Because so little is known about this dinosaur, any image is speculation, based on closely related carnivores. What is known about it is it is a carnivore distinct from any other.
Metricanthosaurus gets its name from its backbone, which are taller than typical carnosaurs, like Allosaurus, but smaller than other high-spined dinosaurs like Acrocanthosaurus.
[edit] In popular culture
- In the film version of Jurassic Park, one of the vials containing dinosaur DNA is labeled with the name Metriacanthosaurus, though the species does not appear in the film.