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TrefRex — Ceratosaurus dentisulcatus

Published: 2015-02-18 01:55:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 4713; Favourites: 45; Downloads: 0
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Description Named by James Madsen and Samuel Welles, 2000
Diet: Carnivore (Prey included smaller ornithischians such as Stegosaurus and Camptosaurus; it may also fed on fish and other aquatic prey, using its muscular tail to propel itself through the water; it was also, most likely an opportunistic scavenger)
Length: 23 to 24.6 feet (7 to 7.5 meters)
Weight: 1,500 lb
Region: Utah USA (Upper Morrison Formation) (Note: Another specimen from the Lourinha Formation in Portugal was assigned to Ceratosaurus "dentisulcatus" by some researchers, but this is uncertain).
Age: 150.1-146.8 million BC (Middle Tithonian stage of the Late Jurassic)
Rivals: Allosaurus and other large theropods tht it lived with.

If you thought Ceratosaurus [A three-horned medium-sized theropod that's well-known for the large, blade-like nasal horn (hence its name), its dragon-like appearance, and being one of the major predators of the famous Morrison  Formation in the Midwestern United States during the Late Jurassic period] was a "dork" compared to some of the larger theropod dinosaurs that it shared with, such as Allosaurus, Torvosaurus, and Saurophaganax-think again! 

This species of Ceratosaurus was first dubbed in 2000 by paleontologists James Madsen and Samuel Welles and the full species name means "Horned Lizard with Furrowed Teeth."

It was found in the famous Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah, which, since its first discovery in 1927, has yielded more than 12,000 numerous specimens of dinosaurs, most of which were identified as carnivorous theropods, such as more than 46 Allosaurus individuals. But this, along with other lesser-known theropods such as the megalosaur Marshosaurus and the tyrannosauroid Stokesosaurus, was rare in this quarry, compared to the numerous allosaur remains.

Unfortunately, it was disarticulated and over many years of work was turned up the scattered remains of what Madsen and Welles considered to be a Ceratosaurus individual. When the fragments were viewed together by paleontologists, they were strucked by its size.

This Ceratosaurus species was much larger, heavier, and bulkier than its well-known type species, Ceratosaurus nasicornis (pictured in red silhouette). While C. nasicornis was up to 17.5 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) in length and weighed up to 1,300 lb, C. "dentisulcatus" was estimated to be up to over 23 feet (7 meters) long and weighed up to 1,500 lb. Not only that, its head was deeper and a nasal opening set lower down at the front of the skull. But its lower jaw was not as curved and while its razor-sharp dagger-like teeth were recurved (hence its species name), their not as proportionally as large as those of C. nasicornis's. Sadly, because the skull which preserved the dinosaur's ornaments were not found, its unknown how this species might have differed from others in this respect. 

Another Ceratosaurus specimen was found in the Lourinha Formation in Portugal (which has the same rock age and similar fauna as the Morrison Formation) and was assigned to C. "dentisulcatus" by some researchers, but this is uncertain.

With its size and razor-sharp recurved teeth, C. "dentisulcatus" would've been one of the major predators of the semiarid, but wet seasoned, open floodplain prairies and riverine forests in what is now Utah, near the end of the Jurassic period. It would mostly preyed on smaller ornithischian dinosaurs such as the bipedal camptosaurs and the armored-plated Stegosaurus. But it would've come into conflict and rivalry with Allosaurus and other large theropods that it shared with. As well as being an opportunistic scavenger, its also believed that Ceratosaurus fed on fish and other aquatic prey, using its muscular tail to proppel itself through the water like a crocodile.

However, since Ceratosaurus is a rare theropod dinosaur, we still have no idea of how individuals varied from one to another, nor do we have solid evidence of the ontogeny of this theropod. Because of this, some scientists believe that C. "dentisulcatus" is actually a larger, fully-grown individual of C. nasicornis.

But the Morrison Formation, the most famous fossil site that contains dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic period, covers most of North America's western interior and a long enough period of time  that lasted 10 million years. Whereas C. nasicornis was found in the lower and middle strata of the Morrison Formation (Dating to the Late Oxfordian to Early Tithonian, deposited in a semiarid open floodplain prairies and riverine forests with short wet seasons), C. "dentisulcatus" was geologically younger. It was found in the upper rock strata of the formation (Dating to the Mid Tithonian, deposited in a similar environment, but with much wetter seasons).

But their is still much we still don't know about the biology of these dinosaurs. 

Note: Based on skeletal works by Scott Hartman (scotthartman.deviantart.com/ar… and scotthartman.deviantart.com/ar… )
In case your all wondering, yes I'm gonna do Ceratosaurus nasicornis, the well-known type species sometime in the future, with good information.  
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Comments: 3

DINOTASIA123 [2017-10-01 16:33:12 +0000 UTC]

What does dentisulcatus mean?

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asari13 [2015-02-18 09:00:44 +0000 UTC]

cool

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TrefRex [2015-02-18 02:10:38 +0000 UTC]

If you even thought the stop-motion animated ceratosaurs Ray Harryhausen did for The Animal World (1956) and One Million Years BC (1966), as well as the one from the Carnivores video games, were oversized and exaggerating, Think again!  

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