Monolophosaurus

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Monolophosaurus
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic
165 mya
Scientific classification
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Monolophosaurus
Profile view of skull cast

Monolophosaurus [1] was a medium-sized theropod from China that lived during the Jurassic period.

It had one feature not found on any other meat-eating dinosaur – a long, bony ridge that went from its nose back to the top of its head. The area where Monolophosaurus was discovered showed signs that it was sometimes covered with water, so it is possible that this dinosaur lived on the shore of a lake or sea.

The remains of the type of Monolophosaurus preserve a complete skull and partial postcranium.[2][3] In fact, these remains are amongst the most complete from the Middle Jurassic of China. The dinosaur was probably a basal tetanuran.

References[change | change source]

  1. "one-crested lizard"
  2. Holley, David (October 23, 1987). "2nd creature was meat-eater: fossil remains of huge dinosaur found in China". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  3. Zhao, Xi-Jin; Currie, Philip J. (1993). "A large crested theropod from the Jurassic of Xinjiang, People's Republic of China" (PDF). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 30 (10): 2027–2036. Bibcode:1993CaJES..30.2027Z. doi:10.1139/e93-178.
Mounted skeletons of Monolophosaurus and Bellusaurus, Wyoming Dinosaur Center. The two are from the same formation