Genus
Valid Extinct

Torvosaurus

Galton and Jensen 1979
Etymology Reptile carnassier

Torvosaurus is a genus of large megalosaurine theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 165 to 146.5 million years ago during the Callovian to Tithonian ages of the late Middle and Late Jurassic period in what is now Colorado, Portugal, Germany, and possibly England, Spain, Tanzania, and Uruguay. It contains two currently recognized species, Torvosaurus tanneri and Torvosaurus gurneyi, plus a third unnamed species from Germany.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
28
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Torvosaurus
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Wikimedia
Torvosaurus
Torvosaurus
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
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Theropoda Unranked clade
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Neotheropoda Unranked clade
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Averostra Unranked clade
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Tetanurae Unranked clade
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Megalosauroidea Superfamily
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Megalosauridae Family
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Megalosaurinae Subfamily
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Torvosaurus Genus
Measurements
Length
10,2 m ⓘ
Torvosaurus gurneyi — min connu
10,5 m ⓘ
Torvosaurus tanneri  — max connu
10 m ⓘ
Mass
2 800 kg ⓘ
Torvosaurus gurneyi — min connu
3 300 kg ⓘ
Torvosaurus tanneri  — max connu
Fossil sites 28 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇺🇸 United States
9
🇵🇹 Portugal
9
🇩🇪 Germany
3
🇺🇾 Uruguay
3
🇹🇿 Tanzania
3
🇨🇳 China
1
Geological formations
Morrison
9
Lourinhã
9
Tacuarembó
3
Tendaguru
3
Ornatenton
1
"Korallenoolith"
1
Süntel
1
Temporal distribution
Tithonian (149.2–143.1 Ma)
14
Kimmeridgian (154.8–149.2 Ma)
12
Oxfordian (161.5–154.8 Ma)
1
Callovian (165.3–161.5 Ma)
1
Species (4)
Edmarka rex subjective synonym of Torvosaurus tanneri 155 Ma
Megalosaurus ingens nomen dubium, species not entered Torvosaurus 152 Ma
Torvosaurus gurneyi 152 Ma
Torvosaurus tanneri 155 Ma
Synonyms (2)
Edmarka subjective synonym of Torvosaurus
Megalosaurus ingens nomen dubium, species not entered Torvosaurus
News 1
Torvosaurus: Beast of the Week
Torvosaurus: Beast of the Week
bone predator Germany Portugal United States +4
Today we are going to look at a huge Jurassic predatory dinosaur, Torvosaurus tanneri!  Torvosaurus lived about 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic period. Its bones have been unearthed in Colorado, USA, Portugal, and possibly Germany (Europe and North America were not as vastly separated back then, remember, so a lot of the dinosaurs on each of them from that time shared recent ancestors).  From nose to tail it measured up to 36 feet (about 11m) and would have been among the largest,
08/02/2026 prehistoricbeastoftheweek
Images 4
Bibliography
Original description
P. M. Galton and J. A. Jensen. 1979. A new large theropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Colorado. Brigham Young University Geology Studies 26(1):1-12
Bibliography (16)
O. W. M. Rauhut, A. H. Schwermann, and T. R. Hübner K.-P. Lanser. 2020. The oldest record of the genus Torvosaurus (Theropoda: Megalosauridae) from the Callovian Ornatenton Formation of north-western Germany. Geologie und Paläontologie in Westfalen 93:1-13
M. Soto, P. Toriño, and D. Perea. 2020. A large sized megalosaurid (Theropoda, Tetanurae) from the late Jurassic of Uruguay and Tanzania. Journal of South American Earth Science 98:102458:1-22 DOI ↗
C. Ribeiro and O. Mateus. 2018. Stratigraphic position of the Late Jurassic tetrapods from Porto Dinheiro (Lourinhã, Portugal). 1st Palaeontological Virtual Congress DOI ↗
O. Gerke and O. Wings. 2016. Multivariate and cladistic analyses of isolated teeth reveal sympatry of theropod dinosaurs in the Late Jurassic of northern Germany. PLoS One 11(7):e0158334:1-52 DOI ↗
S. G. Dalman. 2014. New data on small theropod dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Como Bluff, Wyoming, USA. Volumina Jurassica 12(2):181-196
C. Hendrickx and O. Mateus. 2014. Torvosaurus gurneyi n. sp., the largest terrestrial predator from Europe, and a proposed terminology of the maxilla anatomy in nonavian theropods. PLoS ONE 9(3):e88905:1-25 DOI ↗
R. Araújo, R. Castanhinha, and R. M. S. Martins, O. Mateus, C. Hendrickx, F. Beckmann, N. Schell, L. C. Alves. 2013. Filling the gaps of dinosaur eggshell phylogeny: Late Jurassic theropod clutch with embryos from Portugal. Scientific Reports 3:1924:1-8 DOI ↗
M. Hanson and P. J. Makovicky. 2013. A new specimen of Torvoaurus tanneri originally collected by Elmer Riggs. Historical Biology 26(6):775-784 DOI ↗
M. T. Carrano, R. B. J. Benson, and S. D. Sampson. 2012. The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(2):211-300 DOI ↗
O. W. M. Rauhut. 2011. Theropod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic of Tendaguru (Tanzania). Special Papers in Palaeontology 86:195-239 DOI ↗
H. Galiano and R. Albersdörfer. 2010. A New Basal Diplodocoid Species, Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus from the Morrison Formation, Big Horn Basin, Wyoming, with Taxonomic Reevaluation of Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, Barosaurus and Other Genera. Dinosauria International (Ten Sleep, WY) Report for September 2010
S. F. Derby, B. E. Bodenbender, and T. M. Demko. 2006. An investigation of microvertebrates in the Morrison Formation near Shell, Wyoming. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 38(4):67
R. T. Bakker, J. Siegwarth, and D. Kralis, J. Filla. 1992. Edmarka rex, a new, gigantic theropod dinosaur from the middle Morrison Formation, Late Jurassic of the Como Bluff outcrop region. Hunteria 2(9):1-24
P. M. Galton and J. A. Jensen. 1979. A new large theropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Colorado. Brigham Young University Geology Studies 26(1):1-12
W. Janensch. 1925. Die Coelurosaurier und Theropoden der Tendaguru-Schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas [The coelurosaurs and theropods of the Tendaguru Formation of German East Africa]. Palaeontographica, Supplement VII (1) 1(1):1-100
W. Janensch. 1920. Ueber Elaphrosaurus bambergi und die Megalosaurier aus den Tendaguru-Schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas [On Elaphrosaurus bambergi and the megalosaurs of the Tendaguru Formation of German East Africa]. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 1920:225-235