Dinosaurs A to Z
Proceratosauridae

Proceratosaurus prohsuh-ratoh-SORRUHS

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Proceratosaurus 3 m (9.8 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Proceratosaurus
Length
3 m (9.8 ft)
Period
Middle Jurassic (166 Mya)
Place
Europe · United Kingdom
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Proceratosauridae

Proceratosaurus ( ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived during the Middle Jurassic in what is now England. The holotype and only known specimen consists of a mostly complete skull with an accompanying lower jaw and a bone, found near Minchinhampton, a town in Gloucestershire. It was originally described in 1910 as a species of Megalosaurus, M. bradleyi, but was moved to its own genus, Proceratosaurus, in 1926. The genus was named for its supposed close relationship with Ceratosaurus, later shown to be erroneous, due to perceived resemblance of Proceratosaurus incomplete cranial crest to Ceratosaurus nasal horn.

A small to medium-sized dinosaur, the skull of Proceratosaurus is 26.9 cm long as preserved, and the dinosaur is estimated to have measured around 3 m in length.

What we know

  • Named by (Woodward, 1910).
  • Body length estimated at about 3 m.
  • Fossils found in Europe and United Kingdom.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Proceratosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.