How Long and Heavy was Megalosaurus?

Answering Questions from Young Dinosaur Fans

Lots of questions from dinosaur fans and model collectors this week.  Everything Dinosaur team members are spending some of today catching up with their correspondence.  One of the questions we have been asked this week concerned that Middle Jurassic theropod called Megalosaurus (M. bucklandii).  A couple of young dinosaur enthusiasts had enquired about just how big and heavy this dinosaur was.  This is a difficult question to answer, given the lectotype for this species is a partial right dentary, not too many clues there as to maximum body mass.   Some authors suggest a length of around six metres, although most suggest that this meat-eater grew to lengths in excess of nine metres.

As for body weight, this is not easy to estimate with any degree of certainly.  However, it is very likely that this dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic weighed in excess of one tonne, possibly as much as three tonnes, according to some authors.

Providing Information on Megalosaurus (M. bucklandii)

A scale drawing of Megalosaurus.

Picture Credit: Everything Dinosaur

Questions from Dinosaur Fans

Regarded as a taxonomic wastebasket, the size of Megalosaurus still remains open to debate.  Although it was the first dinosaur to be scientifically described, fossil material associated with this theropod genus remains fragmentary. Until more unambiguous Megalosaurus fossil material is found, the true size of this carnivorous dinosaur will remain uncertain.

A view of the skull and jaw material associated with the first dinosaur to be scientifically described (Megalosaurus). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur stocks a range of theropod dinosaur models including replicas of Megalosaurus.  To view for example, the Megalosaurus model from the London Natural History Museum range of figures: London Natural History Museum Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Figures.