Dryptosaurus drihptoh-SƆːRUHS
"tearing lizard"
- Length
- 7.5 m (24.6 ft)
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (67–66 Mya)
- Place
- North America · United States · Egypt
- Food
- Carnivore
- Clade
- Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Dryptosaurus ( ; meaning “tearing lizard”) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in the present-day East Coast of the United States during the Late Cretaceous period. The type, and only, species, D. aquilunguis was described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1866 as Laelaps aquilunguis, however the genus name was preoccupied by a mite. As a result, Cope’s rival in the Bone Wars, Othniel Marsh, replaced the genus name with Dryptosaurus. Dryptosaurus is known from a single, fragmentary skeleton including parts of the mandible (lower jaw), limbs, and vertebrae. These fossils were unearthed by fertilizer miners in New Jersey in rock layers of the New Egypt Formation. This formation dates to the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous, around 67 to 66 million years ago. Several other fragmentary remains have been assigned to Dryptosaurus, however their referral is uncertain.
What we know
- Named by (Cope, 1866 [originally Laelaps]).
- Body length estimated at about 7.5 m.
- Fossils found in North America and United States.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Dryptosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.