NAME

Meaning - Dryptosaurus means “tearing lizard”
Pronounced - DRIP-toe-SAWR-us
Named By - Othniel Marsh
When Named - 1877
DIET

Carnivore (meat-eater) - it ate plant-eating dinosaurs, like hadrosaurs
SIZE

Length - 22 ft (6.5 m) long
Height - 6 ft (1.8 m) tall at the hips
Weight - about 1.2 tons
WHEN IT LIVED

Late Cretaceous period, about 75-70 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in New Jersey, USA, North America.
FOSSILS

Known from a partial skeleton
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
  • Tetanura - advanced theropods with three fingers
  • Infraorder Coelurosauria - lightly-built fast-running predators with hollow bones and large brains
  • Genus Dryptosaurus
  • Species D. aquilunguis (type species named by Cope, 1866 - originally called “Laelaps”)
INTERESTING FACTS

Dryptosaurus was given its name, which means “tearing lizard,” because it had 8-inch (21-cm) long finger claws.