Question 1

How do you say Magnosaurus?

Accepted Answer

Magnosaurus is pronounced MAG-no-SOR-us. Break it into four beats: MAG, then no, then SOR, then us. The stress lands heaviest on the first syllable MAG and the third syllable SOR. A quick memory trick is to think of a magnifying glass meeting a dinosaur: MAG-no-SOR-us.

Question 2

What does Magnosaurus mean?

Accepted Answer

Magnosaurus means great lizard. The first part of the name comes from the Latin word magnus, which means great or large, and the second part comes from the Ancient Greek word sauros, meaning lizard. Interestingly, its close relative Megalosaurus also means great lizard, just using the Greek version of the word great instead of the Latin one. The species name nethercombensis refers to Nethercombe near Stonesfield in Oxfordshire, England, where the fossils were discovered.

Question 3

Is Magnosaurus the same as Megalosaurus?

Accepted Answer

No, though scientists argued about this for over 150 years. Magnosaurus was formally separated from Megalosaurus by German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1932, based on differences in the shape of the lower jaw bone. The two animals lived around the same time in England and belong to the same family, Megalosauridae, which is exactly why they kept getting mixed up. Modern phylogenetic studies confirm they are distinct genera, but both are still frustratingly incomplete in the fossil record.

Question 4

How big was Magnosaurus?

Accepted Answer

Magnosaurus was a medium-to-large theropod, estimated at roughly 13 to 16 feet long, or about 4 to 5 meters. Its weight was probably somewhere between 440 and 880 pounds, or 200 to 400 kilograms. That is comparable in length to a full-size pickup truck, though much more slender and built for speed. Because the known fossils are fragmentary, these estimates are based on comparisons with better-known megalosaurids of similar bone proportions.

Question 5

What did Magnosaurus eat?

Accepted Answer

Magnosaurus was a carnivore, a meat-eater that almost certainly hunted other dinosaurs and large animals living on the Jurassic islands of what is now England. Its laterally compressed, serrated teeth were perfectly designed for slicing through flesh. It likely preyed on the sauropodomorphs and ornithischian dinosaurs that shared its Middle Jurassic habitat. As one of the largest predators in its ecosystem 168 million years ago, it probably sat at or near the top of the food chain.

Question 6

Where was Magnosaurus found?

Accepted Answer

Magnosaurus fossils were found near the village of Stonesfield in Oxfordshire, England. The fossils came from a rock deposit called the Stonesfield Slate, which is now more formally known as the Taynton Limestone Formation. This same deposit has been producing important dinosaur fossils since the early nineteenth century and is also famous for yielding material originally attributed to Megalosaurus. The site is one of the most historically significant dinosaur fossil localities in the entire world.

Question 7

When did Magnosaurus live?

Accepted Answer

Magnosaurus lived approximately 168.6 million years ago during the Middle Jurassic period, specifically in a stage called the Bathonian. That means it was alive more than 100 million years before T. rex appeared. At that time, the area that is now Oxfordshire in England was a group of warm, low-lying tropical islands surrounded by a shallow sea called the Tethys Sea, with a climate much warmer than England has today.

Question 8

Why is Magnosaurus so hard to study?

Accepted Answer

The biggest challenge with Magnosaurus is that the known fossil material is extremely fragmentary, meaning scientists have only a partial lower jaw, some teeth, and scattered limb bone pieces to work with. Without a more complete skeleton, it is very difficult to reconstruct exactly what the animal looked like or how it fits into the theropod family tree. This fragmentary nature is also why it kept getting lumped in with Megalosaurus for so long. Paleontologists hope that future excavations in the Stonesfield area might turn up better material.

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