A large bipedal carnivorous dinosaur, typically one with greatly reduced forelimbs.
Infraorder Carnosauria, suborder Theropoda, order Saurischia; includes tyrannosaurus, allosaurus, and megalosaurus
‘Allosaurus, predecessor to the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the dominant ‘carnosaur’ - carnivorous dinosaur - of the mid-Jurassic age, has been well known to palaeontologists for decades.’
‘The large carnosaurs and tyrannosaurs also appear to have shorter teeth than would be expected for a mammalian carnivore of their body size.’
‘Many carnosaurs have fairly good-sized forelimbs, unlike the Tyrannosauridae.’
‘In this classification scheme, carnosaurs represent the largest carnivorous animals to ever walk the land.’
‘On average, the carnosaurs were larger than most other theropods.’
Origin
1930s from modern Latin, from Latin caro, carn- ‘flesh’ + Greek sauros ‘lizard’.
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