Veterupristisaurus is a type of dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period, about 154 to 150 million years ago. It was discovered in the Tendaguru region of southeastern Tanzania.
The name Veterupristisaurus means “old shark lizard.” This name comes from the dinosaur’s connection to the family called Carcharodontosauridae, which is known for its shark-like teeth.
The first fossil found of this dinosaur is a middle vertebra, which is a part of its tail. This fossil was collected in the early 1900s and was originally thought to belong to another dinosaur called Ceratosaurus. In 2011, a scientist named Oliver Rauhut gave it its own name—Veterupristisaurus milneri—after a famous paleontologist named Angela C. Milner.
Veterupristisaurus was a large, bipedal dinosaur, meaning it walked on two legs. Estimates suggest it could have grown to about 8 meters long, roughly the length of a school bus, and weighed about 1.65 tons. Because the bones found were not complete, it’s hard to say for certain if the specimen was fully grown or not.
This dinosaur has some unique features in the structure of its tail bones, which help scientists understand its place in the dinosaur family tree. Some studies find it strongly related to other dinosaurs in the Carcharodontosauridae family, while others suggest it may belong to a slightly different group.
Although more research is needed to fully confirm its family’s relationships, Veterupristisaurus gives us valuable insight into the types of large meat-eating dinosaurs that roamed our planet millions of years ago.