Dryptosaurus Marsh, 1877 sp.

Remarks

• Collector:  Unknown

• Formation:  Monmouth Group, Navesink Formation

• Location:     Monmouth County, New Jersey

• This is a finger bone of the maniraptor, Dryptosaurus (a dino with the sickle claw is on the manus!).

• A famous painting by Charles Knight depicting one Dryptosaur pouncing on another can be found in the American Museum of Natural History.  At the time paleontologists didn't know that the sickle belonged to the manus, and Knight painted it as a normal claw on the foot.  Cool scene though!

General Info

Synonyms (older names and misidentifications)

• 1866Originally the genus was called Laelaps byCope, but that name is taken by another vertebrate.

• 1877 The name Dryptosaurus was applied by Marsh

• 1977 Dryptosaurus sp. Baird and Horner

• 1990 Dryptosaurs spp. Molnar

• See the references below for more information on the different species and problems with the genus.

Stratigraphic Occurrence

• Monmouth Group, Navesink Formation of New Jersey

• Possibly from the Black Creek Formation of North Carolina

• Reports of Dryptosaurus from the Upper Cretaceous of Maryland, Montana, and Alberta appear to be suspect.

• New Egypt Formation (of Olsson, 1960) of New Jersey (= Navesink Formation according to Parris, 1974).

Age

• Dryptosaurus ranges from about Late Campanian into the Maastrichtian (~75-65 mya).

Geographic Occurrence (not an all-inclusive list)

• Gloucester County, NJ

• Monmouth County, NJ

• Possibly from Bladen County, NC

• Possibly from Sampson County, NC

Remarks

       For identification and descriptions, see:

• Baird, D.; Horner, J. R.  1977.  A Fresh Look at the Dinosaurs of New Jersey and Delaware.  Bulletin of the New Jersey Academy of Science 22, 50.

• Cope, E. D.  1871.  Supplement to the Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia and Reptilia of North America.  Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 12, 41–52.

• Molnar, R. E.  1990.  "Problematic Theropoda: 'Carnosaurs'".  In:  Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.  The Dinosauria.  Berkeley:  University of California Press, Chapter 14.

       References on the synonymy of the New Egypt and Navesink Formations:

• Olsson, R. K.  1960.  Foraminifera of Latest Cretaceous and Earliest Tertiary Age in the New Jersey Coastal Plain.  Journal of Paleontology 34, 1–58.

• Parris, D. C.  1974.  Additional Records of Plesiosaurs From the Cretaceous of New Jersey.  Journal of Paleontology 48 (1), 32–35.