STL Science Center

STL Science Center

24 December 2013

Chinese Dilophosaurus?

There are papers about Dilophosaurus that are of interest today; providing you do not have family events for Christmas Eve planned. There are some great papers on a supposed Chinese Dilophosaurus, Dilophosaurus sinensis, that describe the species and the discovery of the remains. There are two different papers from 1993 describing these remains. As of this writing, however, only Dilophosaurus wetherilli is recognized as a valid species. Robert Gay, last noted to be teaching in a public school in Arizona, has written two interesting papers that he hosts on his own web page related to Dilophosaurus; one is on sexual dimorphism in Dilophosaurus (abstract available in two places) and the other on a new specimen from the Kayenta Formation. There are, of course, also book excerpts that mention the world renown Dilophosaurus like Kenneth Carpenter's The Carnivorous Dinosaurs. I think one of my favorite short papers for the day, however, is from Andrew Milner and James Kirkland and explores the possibility that many dinosaurs, including Dilophosaurus, from St. George Discovery Site at Johnson Farm (a site in Utah) might be fish eating in part at least. Dilophosaurus jaws do, recall, slightly foreshadow the piscivorous Spinosaurid jaw morphology; and may have had a diet that integrated fish in addition to terrestrial prey.

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