NAME

Meaning - Allosaurus means “different lizard,” named for its unusual vertebrae, lighter than those of other dinosaurs
Pronounced - AL-oh-SAWR-us
Named By - Othniel Marsh
When Named - 1877
DIET

Carnivore (meat-eater)- it ate plant-eating dinosaurs, like stegosaurs and iguanodonts.
SIZE

Length - about 40 ft (12 m) long
Height - 10 ft (3 m) tall at the hips
Weight - up to 4.5 tons
WHEN IT LIVED

Late Jurassic period, about 150-140 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, S. Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming, North America, in Portugal, Europe, and perhaps Tanzania, Africa and Australia.
FOSSILS

Over 60 Allosaurus fossils have been found. The first virtually complete Allosaurus skeleton was discovered by rancher M. P. Felch in 1883, in Colorado, USA
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
  • Superfamily Carnosauria
  • Family Allosauridae
  • Genus Allosaurus
  • Species A. fragilis (type species named by Marsh, 1877)
INTERESTING FACTS

Allosaurus was a top predator with a huge head, sharp, serrated teeth, short arms, and three-fingered hands.
LINKS

A detailed page on Allosaurus. A coloring/information printout on Allosaurus.