Theropod Dinosaur

Friday, September 16, 2011




Allosaurus is a tetanuran theropod known from the remains of at least 60 individuals, ranging from juvenile to adult. It was the dominant carnivorous dinosaur of the Jurassic Period, inhabiting western North America. The most productive site for Allosaurus remains is the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah, where tens of thousands of disarticulated bones of individuals of varying age have been excavated. This represents the best-known collection of theropod remains for one particular genus in a single area.

This specimen, a braincase, was made available to the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility for scanning by Dr. Sankar Chatterjee of Texas Tech University.

The braincase was scanned by Richard Ketcham on 18 June 1999 along the coronal axis for a total of 351 slices, each slice 1.0 mm thick, with an interslice spacing of 0.8 mm.

Literature

Chure, D. J., and J. H. Madsen Jr. 1996. Variation in aspects of the tympanic pneumatic system in a population of Allosaurus fragilis from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16:63-66.

Madsen, J. H. Jr. 1976. Allosaurus fragilis: a revised osteology. Utah Geological Survey Bulletin 109, 163 pp.

Rogers, S. W. 1999. Allosaurus, crocodiles, and birds: evolutionary clues from spiral computed tomography of an endocast. Anatomical Record 257:162-173.


For more information related to dinosaurs, visit rareresource.com.

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