STL Science Center

STL Science Center

11 October 2013

A Lightweight Lizard

Elaphrosaurus skeleton, Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin
Tanzania, Africa. 1920. Werner Janensch and his expedition unearth, name, and describe a small theropod. Also unearthed in Egypt and North America, Elaphrosaurus bambergi is now considered a ceratosaur (it was previously described as a late coelophysoid) genus consisting of a single species. A Late Jurassic carnivore, Elaphrosaurus existed with sauropods, stegosaurs, iguandonts and other theropods such as Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus. The size of Elaphrosaurus was somewhat smaller than other theropods, only measuring in at about 20 ft (6.2 m) in total length. The diet of Elaphrosaurus most likely consisted of small ornithopods.

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