Eustreptospondylus

Eustreptospondylus (meaning "well-reversed vertebrae") was a megalosaurid tetanuran theropod (a large, bipedal meat-eater) about 23-30 ft (7-9 m) long, weighing about 440-550 pounds (200 kg to 250 kg). This predator had a large head, long, sharp serrated teeth, short arms and a primitive hip structure. It lived during the mid-Jurassic period, about 165 million years ago. Incomplete fossils have been found in England. Eustreptospondylus was named by Richard Owen in 1841. The type species is E. oxoniensis, which was named by C. A. Walker in 1964.

Eustreptospondylus Temporal range: Middle Jurassic
Eustreptospondylus skeleton in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
(unranked):	Tetanurae
Family:	Megalosauridae
Genus:	Eustreptospondylus
Species:	E. oxoniensis
Binomial name
Eustreptospondylus oxoniensis Walker, 1964

Eustreptospondylus feeding on a ichthyosaur

Eustreptospondylus Media

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  Nopcsa's 1905 skeletal restoration

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  Von Huene's 1923 restoration of Streptospondylus cuvieri, which actually depicts Eustreptospondylus

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  Modern skeletal restoration

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  Size comparison of E. oxoniensis

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  Fossil in the Oxford University natural history museum

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  Reconstructed skull, showing known remains of the holotype in white

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  Piatnitzkysaurus floresi by Paleocolour

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  A reconstruction based on the new description of S. aegyptiacus.

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  Eustreptospondylus Reconstruction flipped for use in cladograms, etc.

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  Duriavenator reconstruction flipped for use in cladograms and such.