Marshosaurus

Skull of a Marshosaurus in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh

• Colorado, Utah ( Morrison Formation )

• Marshosaurus bicentesimus

Marshosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of North America. It was a medium-sized carnivore, which is estimated to have a length of about 5 meters. So far, an incomplete skull and bones of the rest of the skeleton are known. Another newly discovered skeleton has not yet been scientifically described. All findings are from the Morrison Formation, a major fossil site.

Marshosaurus has been described by James Madsen ( 1976) by Othniel Charles Marsh, which many dinosaur fossils during the Bone Wars ( " bone wars" ), named. The only way is Marshosaurus bicentesimus.

The relationships of this genus are controversial. While Chure and colleagues ( 1997) maintain an allocation to Carnosauria probable Holtz and colleagues ( 2004) classified it provisionally as not classifiable representatives of Avetheropoda. However, a recent study by Benson (2010 ) comes to the conclusion that it was a representative of the Megalosauroidea at Marshosaurus.

The holotype specimen is a left ilium ( ilium ), consisting of the Cleveland -Lloyd Quarry, a quarry in central Utah, is derived.