Dino of the Week: Sarcosaurus

a Sarcosaurus in futile pursuit of two Dimorphodon

Type Species: Sarcosaurus woodi

Classification: Dinosauria - Saurischia – Theropoda

Time Period: Early Jurassic

Location: England

Diet: Carnivore

Early Jurassic England was a scattering of low islands stitched across a shallow sea that ran along the northern edge of Laurasia. The wooded islands were home to plenty of wildlife and supported rich ecosystems. The eleven-foot-long Sarcosaurus was the mega-predator of these islands, likely swimming the narrow channels running between them. Sarcosaurus is known from scattered remains – a partial pelvis, a femur, and some vertebrae – but from these scientists extrapolate that it was a lightly-built theropod predator. Its pelvis is remarkably similar to the later – and much larger – Ceratosaurus (hence its reconstruction with a ceratosaur-like head crest), and some scientists believe it’s actually an early species of Ceratosaurus, the direct ‘ancestor’ of the twenty-two-foot-long Ceratosaurus that would dominate the Late Jurassic.