Magnosaurus

great lizard

• magnus · Latin · great
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name combines the Latin "magnus" (great) with the Greek "sauros" (lizard). It echoes Megalosaurus ("great lizard"), the genus to which its fossils were first assigned as Megalosaurus nethercombensis. Friedrich von Huene created the new genus name for them in 1932.

Named by

von Huene

Year named

1932

Period

Middle Jurassic

Stage

Bajocian

Found in

Inferior Oolite, Dorset, England (near Sherborne)

A megalosaurid theropod. The type species, M. nethercombensis, was first named Megalosaurus nethercombensis (von Huene, 1923). The genus is generally treated as valid, but the material is fragmentary. Its taxonomic history is tangled with other Megalosaurus species from the English Middle Jurassic.