Metriacanthosaurus

Metriacanthosaurus is a genus in the infraorder Carnosauria. The only species that is known of this genus is Metriacanthosaurus parkeria. This Theropod lived during the late Jurassic Period of Europe, hunting contemporary herbivores, such as Callovosaurus.

Discovery and classification
In 1923 the paleontologist von Huene described a few fossils and concluded that they belonged to a new species of the Megalosaurus genus. In the 1960s Walker concluded that the fossils where to different from Megalosaurus and concluded that this species belonged to a unique genus, he called Metriacanthosaurus. The species whas called parkeria.

In 1977 an almost complete skeleton of large Theropod was discovered in China. It was classified as a new species (shangyouensis) and member of a new genus (Yangchuanosaurus). According to Greg Paul the genus Yangchuanosaurus was identical to the genus Metriacanthosaurus and therefore classified the animal in 1988 as Metriacanthosaurus shangyouensis. But this reclassification was later cancelled.

In Jurassic Park (film)
Metriacanthosaurus is not seen in person in the movies, but its name can be seen next to a vial in the Cold Storage Room, and on the map of the park. According to vertebrate paleontologist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_R._Holtz,_Jr. Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.] this was probably meant to refer to Yangchuanosaurus (which whas then classified as a species of the Metriacanthosaur genus) as he explains in this e-mail:

"..."Metriacanthosaurus shangyouensis". In other words, it was what most authors (?including Greg Paul, who was the first to transfer the species) would call Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis. Unlike the very fragmentary Metriacanthosaurus, Yangchuanosaurus is known from a lot of the skeleon. This restoration closely follows Greg Paul's excellent restoration.

(As a side note, Speilberg & Crichton likely followed the same generic reference in "Jurassic Park", as "Metriacanthosaurus" is one of the dinosaur taxa whose DNA vials Nedry steals. Presumably, S & C were thinking about M. shangyouensis, which is on the cover of Predatory Dinos of the World, rather than M. parkeri)."

It may appear in jurassic park the game along with segisaurus,Proseratosaurus,etc.

Trivia

 * Metriacanthosaurus may appear in Jurassic Park: The Game. In an interview, Joe Pinney said " We are going to dig deeper into dinosaurs that were only touched on in the film" This comment makes it a possibility that Metriacanthosaurus will appear since it only had a small cameo in the form of its name.

Links

 * Pictures of Metriacanthosaurus
 * Metriacanthosaurus on Wikipedia