Lizard Eating Master

©Chris Dodds (uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by FunkMonk)

The Lizard Eating Master, or Saurophaganax, is a Morrison Formation denizen of the late Kimmeridgian Age, Late Jurassic, of Oklahoma, USA. Saurophaganax lives in a somewhat precarious position. Some consider it a valid genus and species, Saurophaganax maximus, while other consider it to be a another representative skeleton of Allosaurus; namely Allosaurus maximus of course. That is not even the first name that has been debated about for Saurophaganax; the original name for the animal was Saurophagus, but this belongs to an already named fly-catcher (which is a bird). Regardless, the material on which Saurophaganax is based comes from four individuals in Oklahoma which are distinguishable from Allosaurus according to Daniel Chure. I think throughout this week we will try to get to the bottom of some of this mystery and perhaps even help in sorting out the mystery properly.