metriacanthosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in europe during the middle jurassic period, about 160 million years ago. its name means "moderate-spined lizard", because its back vertebrae are taller than other meat-eating dinosaurs such as "allosaurus", but shorter than those of other meat-eating dinosaurs, such as "acrocanthosaurus". like most theropods, "metriacanthosaurus" was a meat-eater. it had three fingers on each hand. each finger ended in a sharp, hook-like claw that was used to grab prey before giving the killing bite with its jaws. it probably preyed on the large, long-necked sauropods, such as "pelorosaurus", that lived in the same time and place as it. it was originally classified as a megalosaurid, but recent studies show that it belongs to its own family, the metriacanthosauridae