The hornedCeratosaurusis one of the most distinctive meat-eating dinosaurs. This medium-sized predator lived in North America and Europe during the Jurassic, around 150 million years ago.Scientific Name:Ceratosaurus nasicornisCharacteristics:Ceratosauruswa
The hornedCeratosaurusis one of the most distinctive meat-eating dinosaurs. This medium-sized predator lived in North America and Europe during the Jurassic, around 150 million years ago.
History
Ceratosauruswas named in 1884 by the eminent American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh of Yale University. Marsh based his description on an almost complete skeleton from Colorado. In reference to its most distinctive feature, Marsh named itCeratosaurus, meaning horned lizard, and gave it the species nameC. nasicornis, meaning ornamental nose.
MostCeratosaurusfossils come from the 150-million-year-old Morrison Formation in Colorado and Utah, USA. Three other species ofCeratosaurushave been named, includingC. dentisulcatus, from Utah and Portugal; andC. magnicornis, from Colorado. However, some paleontologists regard these species as invalid. Instead, they suggest that these slightly different species are really variants ofC. nasicornis, possibly due to changes in the skeleton that occurred as the animals matured.
MaybeCeratosauruspreferred a diet of small prey.
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