Bones || Palaeontologists and investigators have unearthed intriguing new data on the carnivorous dinosaurs that used to stalk Portugal.
Until fossils were unearthed on a beach near Torres Vedras in the late 90s, very little was known about the Ceratosaurus, or horned lizard, that used to rub along (if not rub shoulders) with the likes of the Allosaurus and Torvosaurus in the late Jurassic Period.
But now a new study led by investigator Elisabete Malafaia has shown that Portugal was indeed home to this huge creature better recorded in areas like North America.
The fossils most recently studied appear to be from exactly the same animal whose teeth are on display in a museum in Lourinhã, Malafaia writes in the latest edition of UK magazine “Historical Biology”.
The bones from the Ceratosaurus’ right foot are the only remains so far found that prove that the Ceratosaurus did indeed roam this part of Europe, says Malafaia.
