Remains of what is believed to be the biggest carnivorous dinosaur that lived in Europe has been found in Portugal.
The meat-eating dinosaur, named Torvosaurus gurneyi, lived during the Jurassic Period and is about 10 meters long and believed to have weighed about 4 to 5 tons, according to a paper published in Plos One.
Lead author Christophe Hendrickx told ABC News, the dinosaur was physically similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, for the most part. "The T. rex had tiny arms with two fingers, while the arms here are definitely larger and also had these huge claws." The teeth are also different, "narrower, more blade-shaped."
Hendrickx also explained that he named the dinosaur after James Gurney who drew the Dinotopia books. "I wanted to honor the guy who was clever and excellent in all his work."
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, remains of T. gurneyi were originally discovered about 11 years ago by an amateur fossil hunter in Lourinha, Portugal. Fossilized embryos of the T. gurneyi have also been found in the country.
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
