Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus was a predatory dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic period, 156 to 145 million years ago.

Ceratosaurus
Temporal range: Upper Jurassic 161.2–145 mya
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Sauropsida
Superorder:
Dinosauria
Order:
Saurischia
Suborder:
Theropoda
Infraorder:
Ceratosauria
Family:
†Ceratosauridae
Genus:
†Ceratosaurus

Marsh, 1884
Species
  • C. nasicornis (type)
    Marsh, 1884
  • C. ingens
    (Janensch, 1920)
  • C. dentisulcatus
    Madsen & Wells, 2000
  • C. magnicornis
    Madsen & Wells, 2000

It was first described by O.C. Marsh in 1884. It had a horn on its nose, and a pair of small horns above its eyes. Unusually, for a theropod, Ceratosaurus had armour: small osteoderms ran down the middle of its back.

The animal had deep jaws and long blade-like teeth. A nearly complete skeleton was discovered in Garden Park, Colorado, in rocks belonging to the Morrison Formation.

Other examples or close relatives have since been found.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.