Marshosaurus
Marshosaurus was a medium-sized meat-eating dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. It was a fast and agile hunter, using its sharp teeth and claws to catch prey.1
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as long as 4 dogs nose to tail🍌as long as 25 bananas end to end🍉as heavy as 40 watermelons🧸as heavy as 11 kindergarten kids🎒as heavy as 6 school kids🏃could run 100 metres in 7.3 seconds (the fastest human needs 9.6)How big was Marshosaurus compared to YOU?
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Fun facts
Marshosaurus was named in 1976 by James Madsen, and its species name bicentesimus honors the 200th birthday of the United States.1
The first fossil of Marshosaurus was a left hip bone (ilium) found at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah.1
Marshosaurus lived alongside many other dinosaurs, including the giant sauropods like Diplodocus and the predator Allosaurus.1
Scientists think Marshosaurus was about 4.5 meters (15 feet) long and weighed around 200 kilograms (440 pounds).1
Marshosaurus belonged to a group of theropods called Piatnitzkysauridae, which were early relatives of larger meat-eaters.3
The Morrison Formation, where Marshosaurus was found, was a semiarid environment with rivers and floodplains.1
Most asked questions about Marshosaurus
?How big was Marshosaurus?
About 4.5 meters (15 feet) long and 200 kilograms (440 pounds), based on a 2010 estimate by Gregory S. Paul.1
?What did Marshosaurus eat?
It was a carnivore, so it ate meat. It likely hunted small and medium-sized prey, using its sharp teeth and claws.1
?When did Marshosaurus live?
It lived during the Late Jurassic period, about 155 to 152 million years ago, in the Morrison Formation of Utah and possibly Colorado.1
?Where was Marshosaurus found?
Its fossils were found at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah, and possibly in Colorado and Dinosaur National Monument.1
?Was Marshosaurus bigger than Allosaurus?
No, Marshosaurus was smaller. It was about the size of a young subadult Allosaurus, while Allosaurus was a top predator in the same environment.2
?Did Marshosaurus have feathers?
Scientists do not know for sure. No feather fossils of Marshosaurus have been found, and it is not clear if it had them.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Marshosaurus
- Named by
- Madsen 19763
- Group
- Meat-eating dinos
- Family / clade
- Piatnitzkysauridae3
- Classification
- Theropoda3
- Age of the rocks
- 155 to 143 million years (Kimmeridgian / Tithonian)3
- Rock formations
- Morrison3
- Countries
- USA3
- Fossil records
- 3 in the Paleobiology Database3
- Discovery
- Marshosaurus was named by James Madsen in 1976 based on fossils from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah. The name honors paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating exactly where Marshosaurus fits in the dinosaur family tree. Some think it was a megalosauroid, while others place it with more bird-like theropods.1
Where the facts come from
- Marshosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Meet Marshosaurus, the Jurassic’s Forgotten Predator | National Geographic (nationalgeographic.com)
- Marshosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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