Outline: a typical theropod
Cryolophosaurus
cry-oh-LOAF-oh-SORE-us
"frozen crested lizard"
- Lived
- 200 to 184 million years ago, Early Jurassic
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Length
- about 8 m (26 ft)
- Group
- Theropods
- Found in
- Antarctica
- Named by
- Hammer and Hickerson 1994
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical theropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
190 million years ago
Field notes
About Cryolophosaurus
What it was like
Cryolophosaurus was a large meat eater about 8 meters (26 feet) long, with a strange crest on its head. The crest ran across the skull from side to side, just above the eyes, and was ruffled like a fan or a comb.
It was probably used for display. It was one of the largest meat eaters of the Early Jurassic.
Its world
It lived in the Early Jurassic in what is now Antarctica. At that time Antarctica was farther north and had forests, not ice. Its bones come from the Hanson Formation, where it shared the land with the long-necked plant eater Glacialisaurus.
How it was found
Hammer and Hickerson named Cryolophosaurus in 1994. It was the first meat-eating dinosaur named from Antarctica, and its bones were dug out of rock high on a mountain.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Tetanurae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: W. R. Hammer and W. J. Hickerson. 1994. A crested theropod dinosaur from Antarctica. Science 264:828-830