Marshosaurus—Jurassic's Forgotten Carnivore

[Claire.]

Marshosaurus—the Jurassic's Forgotten Carnivore

I’ve spilled more than a little digital ink over the top carnivores of the Jurassic west. Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Torvosaurus are all very dinosaur-y dinosaurs, checking the boxes for big, scary, and strange. But as I’ve poked around the Morrison Formation bones held at the Natural History Museum of Utah over the past few weeks, I realized I’ve done a disservice to ancient ecology by focusing on the flesh-rippers of the most imposing stature. There was an entire guild of Jurassic carnivores running around North America around 150 million years ago, and one of the least-known – at least to the public – is a mid-sized carnivore named Marshosaurus bicentesimus.

Read more: Scientific American