Outline: a typical theropod
Marshosaurus
MARSH-oh-SORE-us
"Marsh's lizard"
- Lived
- 155 to 143 million years ago, Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Length
- about 6 m (20 ft)
- Group
- Theropods, Piatnitzkysauridae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Madsen 1976
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical theropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
150 million years ago
Field notes
About Marshosaurus
What it was like
Marshosaurus was a medium-sized two-legged predator about 6 meters (20 feet) long. It is known mainly from hip bones and a few pieces of the skull, so its full appearance is uncertain.
Its world
It lived in the Late Jurassic in what is now Utah and Colorado. Its bones come from the Morrison Formation, a land of rivers and open plains shared with Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Stegosaurus and giant sauropods such as Camarasaurus and Diplodocus.
How it was found
Madsen named Marshosaurus in 1976. Its closest known relative is Piatnitzkysaurus from Argentina.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Piatnitzkysauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: J. H. Madsen, Jr. 1976. A second new theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of east central Utah. Utah Geology 3(1):51-60