Dryptosaurus
Dryptosaurus
- Pronunciation:
- drip-toe-SORE-us
- Name meaning:
- 'tearing lizard'
- Type of dinosaur:
- large theropod
- Length:
- 6.4m
- Diet:
- carnivorous
- When it lived:
- Late Cretaceous, 84-66 million years ago
- Found in:
- USA
This dinosaur was originally named Laelaps by Edward Drinker Cope. His rival Othniel Charles Marsh realised that this name was already being used for a mite and renamed the dinosaur Dryptosaurus in 1877.
Taxonomic details
- Taxonomy:
- Dinosauria, Saurischia, Theropoda, Tyrannosauroidea
- Named by:
- Cope (1866)
- Type species:
- aquilunguis
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