| Monolophosaurus Temporal range: Middle Jurassic | |
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| A restoration of Monolophosaurus jiangi | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| clade: | Dinosauria |
| Superorder: | Theropoda |
| Genus: | †Monolophosaurus Zhao & Currie 1993 |
| Species: | M. jiangi |
| Binomial name | |
| Monolophosaurus jiangi Zhao & Currie 1993 | |
Monolophosaurus jiangi (meaning "single-crested lizard") is an extinct genus of tetanuran theropod dinosaur that lived in westen China from Asia during the Jurassic period. Although similar to Dilophosaurus by the crests, they are not related. Monolophosaurus was closer related to the more advanced carnivores like Allosaurus. It is distinctive by the single crest on its skull, which was probably for mating.Its crest could also be used to intensify the roar, it could be useful in communicating in a flock while hunting. It lived with Eugongbusaurus, Hualianceratops, Jiangjunosaurus, Yinlong, Bellusaurus, Fushanosaurus, Klamelisaurus, Mamenchisaurus, Tienshanosaurus, Aorun, Guanlong, Haplocheirus, Limusaurus, Shishugounykus, Sinraptor and Zuolong.
Discovery and naming[]
A nearly complete skeleton of a theropod new to science was discovered by Dong Zhiming in 1981, during stratigraphic exploration for the benefit of the oil industry. The fossil was not unearthed until 1984. In 1987, before description in the scientific literature, it was referred to in the press as Jiangjunmiaosaurus, an invalid nomen nudum. In 1992 it was mentioned by Dong Zhiming as Monolophosaurus jiangjunmiaoi, and in 1993 by Wayne Grady as Monolophosaurus dongi. These latter names also lacked a description and therefore were nomina nuda as well.
In 1993/1994, Zhao Xijin and Philip John Currie named and described the type species Monolophosaurus jiangi. The generic name is derived from Greek μόνος, monos, "single", and λόφος or λόφη, lophos/lophè, "crest", in reference to the single crest on the snout. The specific name refers to Jiangjunmiao, an abandoned desert inn near which the fossil was found. Jiangjunmiao means "the temple (miao) of the general (jiangjun)"; local legend has it that a general was buried here.
The holotype IVPP 84019 was discovered in the Junggar Basin, in layers of the Wucaiwan Formation dating from the Bathonian-Callovian. It consists of a rather complete skeleton including the skull, lower jaws, vertebral column and pelvis. The rear of the tail, the shoulder girdle and the limbs are lacking. It represents an adult or subadult individual. The type specimen was restored with plaster to be used in a travelling exhibit. Its left side was encased in foam which has hindered subsequent study. A reconstruction was made of the missing elements to create casts of complete skeletal mounts. In 2010, two studies by Stephen Brusatte, et al redescribed the holotype, at the time still the only specimen known, in detail.
In 2006, Thomas Carr suggested that Guanlong, another theropod with a large, thin, and fenestrated midline crest and from the same formation, was in fact a subadult individual of Monolophosaurus. Usually Guanlong had been considered a proceratosaurid tyrannosauroid, but Carr had performed an analysis in which both specimens clustered and were allosauroids. More conservatively, in 2010 Gregory S. Paul renamed Guanlong into a Monolophosaurus species, Monolophosaurus wucaii, presuming the taxa might be sister species. In 2010, Brusatte e.a. rejected the identity, pointing out that the Guanlong holotype was actually a fully adult individual.
Description[]
Monolophosaurus was a mid sized theropod that was about 5–6 meters in length, and weighing up to 1,500 pounds. This predator is most famous by its head crest, though it is more advanced then the primitive crested dinosaurs like Dilophosaurus. It was known to hunt in packs to bring downs sauropods like the more advanced carnivores during the later times of the Jurassic. It had lots of sharp, serrated teeth and a big, skinny head. The area that Monolophosaurus was found showed signs of water, so it is possible that this dinosaur probably lived on the shore of lakes and oceans. It possibly hunted defensive herbivores such as Tuojiangosaurus.
Classification[]
Monolophosaurus was originally termed a "megalosaur" and has often since been suggested to be an allosauroid. Smith et al. (2007) was the first publication to find Monolophosaurus to be a non-neotetanuran tetanuran, by noting many characters previously thought to be exclusive of Allosauroidea to have a more wider distribution. Also, Zhao et al. in 2010 noted various primitive features of the skeleton suggesting that Monolophosaurus could be one of the most basal tetanuran dinosaurs instead. Benson (2008, 2010) placed Monolophosaurus in a clade with Chuandongocoelurus that is more basal than Megalosauridae and Spinosauridae in the Megalosauroidea. Later, Benson et al. (2010) found the Chuandongocoelurus/Monolophosaurus clade to be outside of Megalosauroidea and Neotetanurae, near the base of Tetanurae. A 2012 phylogeny found Monolophosaurus and Chuandongocoelurus, while not sister taxa, to form a group outside more derived groups at the base of Tetanurae.
Paleobiology[]
The type specimen (IVPP 84019) had its tenth and possibly eleventh neural spines fractured. They are fused together. A series of parallel ridges on one of the specimen's dentaries may represent tooth marks.
In popular culture[]
Monolophosaurus as it appears in The Isle.
- Monolophosaurus is the only dinosaur to appear in the B-movie, Jurassic City.
- It appears in the video game, The Isle.
- Monolophosaurus is no. 010 of the Carnivore Twos that can be created in Jurassic Park III: Park Builder.
- Monolophosaurus appears in Jurassic World: The Game. It originally wasn't in the game but since August 4, 2015 it can be created for the player's park by unlocking it in the Level 55 battle arena.
- Monolophosaurus appears in Jurassic World: Alive.
- A Monolophosaurus figure was released as part of the toy-line for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, as part of the "Battle Damage" line. This is the first time it has ever physically appeared in any Jurassic Park toy set.
- There is an exposed skeleton in the Field Museum of Chicago showing a Monolophosaurus brawling with a Tuojiangosaurus.
The exposed skeletons of the Monolophosaurus brawl with Tuojiangosaurus.
- Monolophosaurus appeared in the TV series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.
