"
Saurophaganax" skeleton (
Sam Noble Museum/
Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Facebook Reel):
I knew some
Allosaurus bones got mixed in with the "
Saurophaganax" material! I've been saying this for years. Now, a new paper written by Danison et al. (only the abstract is available for now) states exactly what I've been saying! They named the
Allosaurus material
Allosaurus anax. They also stated that the vertebral material attributed to "
Saurophaganax" belonged to "diplodocoid sauropods." In fact, "The name
Saurophaganax maximus should refer to a previously undiagnosed diplodocoid, instead of the large theropod recovered from the Kenton 1 Quarry." I thought the atlas for
Saurophaganax was very similar to
Apatosaurus' (a diplodocoid)! The authors concluded that "
Saurophaganax" was indeed a chimera (Abstract). I knew it!
Saurophaganax wasn't a carcharodontosaurid, like I originally hypothesized. It didn't even exist! However, I'm just glad that I was right about the
Allosaurus bones being lumped into the "
Saurophaganax" material. We even got a new
Allosaurus species as a result!
Hello Allosaurus anax, and goodbye "Saurophaganax maximus."
Link:
Danison et al., (2024b):
https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/vamp/index.php/VAMP/article/view/29404
"Saurophaganax" skeleton (Sam Noble Museum/Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Facebook Reel):
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1063663955214929
-Pic:
https://images.app.goo.gl/QoSobE8zMQ7QGo3g7
-Sam Noble Museum’s Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/SamNobleMuseum/reels/
