Potential prey included ornithopods, stegosaurids, and sauropods. It was known for over half of the 20th century as Antrodemus, but a study of the abundant remains from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry brought the name " Allosaurus" back to prominence and established it as one of the best-known dinosaurs.Īs the most abundant large predator in the Morrison Formation, Allosaurus was at the top of the food chain, probably preying on contemporaneous large herbivorous dinosaurs, and perhaps other predators. The bulk of Allosaurus remains have come from North America's Morrison Formation, with material also known from Portugal. The genus has a complicated taxonomy, and includes at least three valid species, the best known of which is A. It is classified as an allosaurid, a type of carnosaurian theropod dinosaur. Relative to the large and powerful hindlimbs, its three-fingered forelimbs were small, and the body was balanced by a long and heavily muscled tail. fragilis, with the largest specimens estimated as being 9.7 metres (32 ft) long. It averaged 8.5 meters (28 ft) in length for A.
Its skull was light, robust and equipped with dozens of sharp, serrated teeth. As one of the first well-known theropod dinosaurs, it has long attracted attention outside of paleontological circles.Īllosaurus was a large bipedal predator. The first fossil remains that could definitively be ascribed to this genus were described in 1877 by paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh.
It is derived from the Greek ἄλλος ( allos) ("different, other") and σαῦρος ( sauros) ("lizard / generic reptile"). The name " Allosaurus" means "different lizard" alluding to its unique (at the time of its discovery) concave vertebrae.
Allosaurus ( / ˌ æ l ə ˈ s ɔːr ə s/) is an extinct genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch ( Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian).
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