Dinosaurs / Cretaceous / Appalachiosaurus
Appalachiosaurus
Cretaceous ap-pah-LAY-chee-oh-SAWR-us, “Appalachia lizard”
Appalachiosaurus was a medium-sized predatory theropod that roamed the eastern coast of North America during the Late Cretaceous, about 78 million years ago. At that time, North America was bisected by the Western Interior Seaway, isolating the eastern landmass of Appalachia. Known from a partial subadult skeleton found in Alabama, Appalachiosaurus provides rare insight into the carnivores of this isolated region. It reached around seven metres in length and sported low ridges along its snout. While more primitive than apex tyrannosaurids like Tyrannosaurus, it occupied the equivalent top predator role on Appalachia, hunting hadrosaurs and ceratopsians.
It was the apex predator of the isolated eastern North American landmass Appalachia.
Where and when
Appalachiosaurus lived in the Late Cretaceous, from 79 to 77 million years ago (Campanian age). Its remains come from United States, in the Demopolis Chalk.
The numbers
Length 7 m (estimates run from 6.5 to 7.5 m). Mass about 1.2 t. Hip height about 2.2 m. That is 4.1 human-lengths, or 0.63 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.