Press the key... C -roar R -Aggressive E -call 1 S -intimidation T -call 2 ____________________________________________ Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Greek for "John Wetherill's two-crested lizard") is the only known species of dilophosaurid theropod dinosaur of the extinct genus Dilophosaurus that lived during the Early Jurassic period, approximately 183 million years ago, between the Sinemurian and Pliensbachian ages, in what is now North America. The species Dilophosaurus sinensis, formerly considered to belong to this genus, has been reclassified as belonging to the more modern synonym of the genus Sinosaurus, S. sinensis. At approximately 7 m in length and weighing about 400 kg, Dilophosaurus was one of the earliest large predatory dinosaurs, although smaller than some later theropods. It was slender and lightly built, and its skull was proportionally large but delicate. The snout was narrow, and the upper jaw had a gap for the nostril. It had a pair of longitudinal, plate-like ridges on its skull, similar to a cassowary with two crests. The jaw was slender and delicate at the front, but deep at the back. The teeth were long, curved, thin, and compressed laterally. Those in the lower jaw were much smaller than those in the upper jaw. Most teeth had serrations along their front and back edges. The neck was long, and its vertebrae were hollow and very light. The arms were powerful, with a long, slender upper arm bone. The hands had four fingers: the first was short but strong and had a large claw; the next two fingers were longer and thinner with smaller claws; and the fourth was vestigial. The thigh bone was enormous, the feet were strong, and the toes had large claws. Paleontologists considered Dilophosaurus to be a basal genus that gave rise to clades such as ceratosaurs and tetanurans. Other paleontologists, on the contrary, believe that this genus is actually nothing more than a large coelophysid. The first specimens were described in 1954, but it wasn't until a decade later that the genus received its current name. Dilophosaurus is one of the oldest known Jurassic theropods, but also one of the least understood. Today it is considered a member of the family Dilophosauridae, along with Dracovenator, a group situated between coelophysids and later theropods. Dilophosaurus would have been active and bipedal, and may have hunted large animals and also fed on smaller animals and fish. The function of its crests is unknown; they were too weak for combat, but they may have been used for display, such as species recognition and sexual selection. It may have grown rapidly, reaching a growth rate of 30 to 35 kilograms per year early in its life. The holotype specimen exhibited multiple paleopathologies, including scarred lesions and signs of developmental abnormality. Dilophosaurus is known from the Kayenta Formation and lived alongside dinosaurs such as Coelophysis kayentakatae and Sarahsaurus. Dilophosaurus has been depicted in various popular cultures. Its most famous appearance was in the 1993 film Jurassic Park. Although featuring impressive special effects, the film portrays Dilophosaurus as much smaller than it actually was. Furthermore, the film attributes to it the ability to deploy an extendable frill, like the agamid lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii, and also the ability to spray venom on its prey. The ability to spray venom was already present in the description of this species in the novel on which the film is based. These last two characteristics are purely fictional, as there is no way to verify that this dinosaur possessed an extendable frill (it was only included in the film) or the ability to spit venom. It was designated as the state dinosaur of Connecticut in 2017.
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