Eustreptospondylus

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Eustreptospondylus by NTamura on DeviantArt

Eustreptospondylus was a carnivorous dinosaur from the Mid-Jurassic period

A 5-7 meter long predatory dinosaur, Eustreptospondylus where one of the largest carnivores in their environment, and one of the local dinosaurs of Europe. They might have fed on small and medium sea animals, lizards, and pterosaurs that lived on the islands.

Eustreptospondylus was a theropod, a carnivorous dinosaur and a member of the Megalosauroidea superfamily, which contains relatives to the famous Megalosaurus. In WWD, Eustreptospondylus was shown to be an amphibious hunter, capable of swimming from island to island and hunt both on land and in the shadows.

Eustreptospondylus skeleton

The skull of Streptospondylus has a rather pointed snout in side view, with a large horizontally oriented nostril. There is no lacrimal horn. The skull roof is relatively thick. Oblique grooves in the jaw joints caused the gape of the mouth to be widened when the lower jaws were opened. These jaws at the front are rather tall and wide. No teeth have been preserved in either the upper or lower jaws, but the size of its toothsockets proves that the third tooth of the lower jaw was enlarged. Though not keeled, the front dorsal vertebrae have paired hypapophyses at their undersides, just as with Streptospondylus altdorfensis.