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Ceratosaurus sp.
"horned lizard"

ceratosaurus juvenile

At 6 meters (20ft) long, Ceratosaurus was a fairly average Jurassic predator. Though more primitive than its contemporaries like Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus is notable for its head ornamentation- adults sported a large, flat crest on the end of the snout as well as two smaller horns over the eyes. Ceratosaurus is known mainly from North America, but one possible species is found in Africa, known from a single specimen much larger than the North American form.

This is a speculative reconstruction of a hatchling Ceratosaurus, based partly on a known juvenile skull assigned to the genus Ceratosaurus, but it's not known to which species it belongs. Despite the recent tendency to put feathers on baby dinosaurs, especially given the possible presence of feathers in some ornithiscians, and the "pycnofibres" of pterosaurs. This is unlikely for Ceratosaurus, however, since adults have been found with bony scutes, and relatives like Carnotaurus are known to be entirely scaly. Even if the ancestors of ceratosaurs had feathers, they seem to have been lost in the advanced members of this family.

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Image Details:
Media: Graphite
License:
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DESCRIPTION
Length: 6m (20ft)
Weight: 275kg (606lbs)
Location: Morrison Formation, Wyoming
Time: Kimmeridgian stage, late Jurassic period (150ma)

CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Stem-Aves
Order: Ceratosauria
Family: Ceratosauridae
Genus: Ceratosaurus
Species: C. nasicornis

SYSTEMATICS
Sauropsida
Diapsida
Archosauria
Ornithosuchia
Dinosauria
Theropoda
Ceratosauria
Ceratosauridae




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