Dinosaurs Codexery

Dilophosaurus

Two-crested lizard of the Early Jurassic

Last updated

Dilophosaurus

Eduard Solà · via Wikipedia: Dilophosaurus · CC BY-SA 3.0

During the Early Jurassic, Dilophosaurus was a medium-sized theropod and also the biggest land animal then known in North America.[1][2] The most massive known Dilophosaurus specimen reached about 400 kg in weight and roughly 7 m in length.[2] The holotype, a smaller individual, had a mass of about 283 kg and a length of 6.03 m.[3]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassReptilia
  4. CladeDinosauria
  5. CladeSaurischia
  6. CladeTheropoda
  7. Genus†Dilophosaurus
  8. SpeciesDilophosaurus wetherilli

Named by (Welles, 1954)

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Dilophosaurus (CC BY-SA 4.0)

How big is it?

Size comparison: Dilophosaurus and a personA 7 m long dilophosaurus drawn to scale next to a 1.8 m tall person. Schematic shapes, not a likeness.7 m1.8 m

Largest length in the source, 7 m, next to a 1.8 m person.

Diagram: drawn by Codexery, schematic shapes to scale (not a likeness). Length: Wikipedia: Dilophosaurus

Where the dilophosaurus has been recorded

Where the dilophosaurus has been recordedPlaces named in the text; marked places: Tuba City, ArizonaTuba City, Arizona

Map: drawn by Codexery. Data: Natural Earth basemap (public domain) · place coordinates: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Last updated 2026-10-01 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Length
about 7 m (23 ft)
Location
North America (Arizona)
Named by
Samuel P. Welles in 1970
Known for
being one of the earliest large predatory dinosaurs and having a pair of crests

Facts from the source article.

Biology and range

The specimens were found in the Kayenta Formation of northern Arizona.[4] On the top of its skull, Dilophosaurus had two crests that were tall, slender, and curved.[5] Welles compared the crests to those of a double-crested cassowary.[5] Marsh and Rowe proposed that the crests were likely encased in keratin or keratinized skin.[5]

The skull was large when compared to the rest of the body, but it was also fragile.[6] A diastema, or gap in the tooth row, was created by the subnarial gap.[6] In Dilophosaurus, the mandibular fenestra was smaller than it was in coelophysoids.[7]

What the specialist sources record

A Navajo man named Jesse Williams found the first Dilophosaurus specimens in 1940 on Navajo Nation land near Tuba City, Arizona.[1] The 1954 study and Welles' 1984 research did not make clear which bones were actual fossils and which were plaster parts.[1] Marsh spent seven years studying each of the three most complete Dilophosaurus skeletons.[1] The new fossils include a complete hind leg and several parts of the skeleton not known from earlier specimens.[1]

CT scans show that air sacs were present in the bones that surrounded the brain.[5] The antorbital fenestra was continuous with the side of the crests, which indicates the crests also had air sacs.[8] The name Dilophosaurus "breedorum" is considered a nomen nudum, an invalidly published name.[9]

References

  1. Pickrell, "Jurassic Park got almost everything wrong about this iconic dinosaur", National Geographic, July 7, 2020. facts only, no text reused. nationalgeographic.com
  2. Wikipedia, "Dilophosaurus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Welles, "Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda), osteology and comparisons", Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 1984, p. 85–180; Naish, "The Great Dinosaur Discoveries", A & C Black Publishers Ltd., 2009, p. 94–95; Marsh, "A comprehensive anatomical and phylogenetic evaluation of Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda) with descriptions of new specimens from the Kayenta Formation of northern Arizona", Journal of Paleontolo; Naish, "The Great Dinosaur Discoveries", A & C Black Publishers Ltd., 2009, p. 94–95; Paul, "Predator en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Dilophosaurus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Paul, "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World", Simon & Schuster, 1988, p. 258, 267–271; Paul, "The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs", Princeton University Press, 2010, p. 75; Gierliński, "Feather-like impressions in a theropod resting trace from the Lower Jurassic of Massachusetts", Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin, 1996, p. 179–184; Kundrát, "When did theropods become feathered? – Evidence for pre-Archaeopteryx feathery appendages", Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution, 2004, p. 355–364; Lockley, en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Dilophosaurus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Welles, "Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda), osteology and comparisons", Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 1984, p. 85–180; Welles, "New Jurassic dinosaur from the Kayenta Formation of Arizona", Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 1954, p. 591–598; Welles, "Dilophosaurus discovered", ucmp.berkeley.edu, 1994 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Dilophosaurus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Marsh, "A comprehensive anatomical and phylogenetic evaluation of Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda) with descriptions of new specimens from the Kayenta Formation of northern Arizona", Journal of Paleontolo; Welles, "Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda), osteology and comparisons", Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 1984, p. 85–180; Welles, "Dilophosaurus (Reptilia: Saurischia), a new name for a dinosaur", Journal of Paleontology, 1970, p. 989; Rauhut, "The interrelationships and evolution of basal theropod dinosaurs en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Dilophosaurus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Welles, "Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda), osteology and comparisons", Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 1984, p. 85–180; Paul, "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World", Simon & Schuster, 1988, p. 258, 267–271; "The Dinosauria", University of California Press, 2004, p. 47–70; Welles, "Dilophosaurus (Reptilia: Saurischia), a new name for a dinosaur", Journal of Paleontology, 1970, p. 989; Marsh, "A comprehensive anatomical and phylogenetic evaluation of Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda) with descriptions of new specim en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Dilophosaurus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Welles, "Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda), osteology and comparisons", Palaeontographica Abteilung A, 1984, p. 85–180; "The Dinosauria", University of California Press, 2004, p. 47–70; Marsh, "A comprehensive anatomical and phylogenetic evaluation of Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda) with descriptions of new specimens from the Kayenta Formation of northern Arizona", Journal of Paleontolo (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Dilophosaurus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brown, "The real Dilophosaurus would have eaten the Jurassic Park version for breakfast", Scientific American, 2021, p. 46–53 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Dilophosaurus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Carnivorous Dinosaurs", Indiana University Press, 2005, p. 277–283; Mortimer, "Pickering's taxa 6: Dilophosaurus breedorum", Theropoddatabase.blogspot.com, May 2010; Carrano, "The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda)", Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 2012, p. 211–300; Hendrickx, "Torvosaurus gurneyi n. sp., the largest terrestrial predator from Europe, and a proposed terminology of the maxilla anatomy in non-avian theropods", PLOS ONE, 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Dilophosaurus (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

More in Dinosaurs

Tyrannosaurus rexVelociraptorTriceratopsStegosaurusSpinosaurusAllosaurusDiplodocusAnkylosaurusPteranodonArchaeopteryxParasaurolophusPachycephalosaurus

Related in Dinosaurs

Allosaurus

Links follow this subject's own source article.

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →