Friday, April 4, 2008

Fossil Friday

Todays fossil: Cryolophosaurus ellioti
This is the animal that I work on at Augustana College! While most of his remains that have been recovered are prepared, we still have several blocks of unprepared material, and this is what I work on.

The name Cryolophosaurus means "frozen crested reptile." The characteristic feature of this dinosaur is the large crest on the top of the skull, above the eyes. The nasal bones extend toward the back of the skull as ridges, and then join with the lacrimal bones to form a grooved crest which extends perpendicularly from the skull. Cryolophosaurus was discovered in the Jurassic Hanson Formation in the Transantarctic Mountains and represents the only theropod dinosaur to be found in Antarctica.
Read more about Cryolophosaurus: Transantarctic Vertebrate Paleontology Project website.
See more of my Cryolophosaurus pictures here.

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