Megalosauridae was a
family of relatively primitive
tetanuran theropod dinosaurs, order
Saurischia. They were small-to-large carnivores with sharp teeth and three claws on each hand. Some members of this group were
Megalosaurus,
Eustreptospondylus,
Streptospondylus and
Torvosaurus. Megalosaurids first appeared in the mid
Jurassic and seemed to have been displaced and replaced by other
theropods by the end of that period; their fossils are known from Europe, North America, South America and Africa. They are considered by most researchers (Sereno 2005, Olshevsky 1995, Holtz 2004, etc.) to be close relatives of the
spinosaurs.
