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Categories: Dinosaurs
Dryptosaurus (meaning "tearing lizard") was a genus of primitive tyrannosaur that lived in Eastern North America during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period. A famous painting of the genus by Charles R. Knight has made it one of the more widely-known dinosaurs, in spite of its poor fossil record. Dryptosaurus was 6.5 m long, 1.8 m high at the hips, and weighed about 1.2 tons. Before the discovery of "Appalachiosaurus",[1] it was tossed around various carnivore families, sometimes a coelurosaur, sometimes a megalosaur, sometimes given a group of its own. However after Appalachiosaurus was discovered, Dryptosaurus was found to be a primitive tyrannosaur, probably not unlike Dilong and Eotyrannus. Like its relative Eotyrannus, it had relatively long arms with three clawed fingers. Though not yet for certain, Dryptosaurus may have had other traits like the basal tyrannosaurs, including their thinner skull and feathery coat. In 1866, an incomplete skeleton was found in New Jersey by E.D. Cope, who named it "Laelaps" ("storm wind", after the dog in Greek mythology that never failed to catch what it was hunting). "Laelaps" became one of the first dinosaurs found in North America, (following Hadrosaurus, Aublysodon and "Trachodon".). Subsequently, it was discovered that the name "Laelaps" had already been given to a species of mite, and O.C. Marsh changed the name in 1877 to Dryptosaurus. Dryptosaurus was reviewed by Ken Carpenter in 1997 [2] in light of the many different theropods discovered since Cope's day. He felt that due to some unusual features it couldn't be placed in any existing family and warranted placement in its own family, Dryptosauridae. Dryptosaurus was the only large carnivore known in eastern North America before the discovery of "Appalachiosaurus". There have been at least seven specimens of Dryptosaurus/Albertosaurus (Probably Appalachiosaurus) known from southern and western North America. More tyrannosaurids have been discovered, but these are either too old or too fragmentary to ascribe to a genus.
Contents
[edit] Morphology
[edit] Discovery
[edit] Specimens
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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