Dryptosaurus

Pronunciation:
drip-toe-SORE-us
Name meaning:
'tearing lizard'
Dryptosaurus
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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