Jawbone discovery
A 2014 paper has identified a new species of top predator from Europe. In 2003, an amateur paleontologist discovered part of a dinosaur jawbone in sediments near Lourinha, Portugal.
Huge teeth
The fearsome creature had huge bladelike teeth and an elongated snout.
Torvosaurus?
The jawbone, shown here in a skull reconstruction was originally though to belong to Torvosaurus tanneri a predator found in North America.
Closer inspection
But Christophe Hendrickx and Octavio Mateus, researchers at the Universade Nova de Lisboa, took a closer look and determined it was a new species.
Fearsome creature
The Torvosaurus gurneyi was likely a top land-based predator in its day, and may have hunted large herbivores.
Giant predator
The Torvosaurus was one of the biggest land predators, and could reach 33 feet (10 meters) and weigh 4 to 5 tons.
Giant
Still, it was slightly smaller than Tyrannosaurus rex, the king of the predators.