Saurophaganax

What it was like

Saurophaganax was a large predator, estimated at around 12 meters (39 feet) long, making it one of the biggest theropods known from the Morrison Formation. It was built much like Allosaurus, with a deep skull, blade-like teeth, and powerful legs.

In fact, scientists disagree over whether Saurophaganax deserves its own genus at all. Some think the bones assigned to it are simply an unusually large species of Allosaurus, and others have suggested the material may even be a mix of more than one animal.

Its world

Saurophaganax lived from about 152 to 143 million years ago, spanning the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, in what is now Oklahoma. Its fossils come from the Morrison Formation.

It shared this floodplain habitat with Allosaurus, the plated Stegosaurus, the long-necked sauropods Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus, Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, and Camarasaurus, and the smaller predator Ceratosaurus.

How it was found

Chure named Saurophaganax maximus in 1995. Only two fossil finds are attributed to the genus, and because they overlap so much with Allosaurus in age and anatomy, it remains one of the more debated dinosaur names from the Morrison Formation.