Metriacanthosaurus

Metriacanthosaurus is a genus of sinraptorid theropod dinosaur that lived in Europe during the Middle Jurassic period, about 165 million years ago. It was a large carnivore, about 26 feet long and weighing one tonne. It was originally classified as a species of Megalosaurus, Megalosaurus parkeri. Later, it was given its own genus, Metriacanthosaurus, but was still assigned to the family Megalosauridae. Finally, it was discovered that it actually belonged to the family Sinraptoridae. Metriacanthosaurus was the first sinraptorid to be discovered, so the family should really be named Metriacanthosauridae. Scientists call it by the junior synonym Sinraptoridae, which is against the ICZN naming conventions.

Metriacanthosaurus was a fierce, powerful predator that could probably attack even large sauropods, such as Pelorosaurus. It may also have preyed on stegosaurs, such as Dacentrurus, and ornithopods, such as Camptosaurus.

In 1988, in his book Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, Gregory S. Paul, a notorius lumper, classified Yangchanosaurus shangyouensis as a species of Metriacanthosaurus. However, this classification hasn't been adopted by other scientists and has been abandoned, along with many other synonymizations of well-known genera in the book.

In popular culture

In the movie Jurassic Park, one of the vials of dinosaur DNA that Dennis Nedry steals is labeled "Metriacanthosaurus", although the genus doesn't appear in the film. According to the paleontologist Thomas R. Holtz, this could refer to either M. parkeri, or, possibly Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis, which Gregory S. Paul at the time classified as a species of Metriacanthosaurus