Oklahoma Fossil

Theropod Dinosaur

(Saurophaganax maximus)

Adopted on April 14, 2000.

The governor signed Senate Bill 1185 on April 14, 2000 designating the Theropod Dinosaur, Saurophaganax maximus, the state fossil.

The first bones of Saurophaganax were found in the late 1930s by a WPA crew under the supervision of a University of Oklahoma paleontologist. Since that time, discoveries have been rare and fragmentary. However, a very nice restoration is on display at the Sam Noble Museum in Norman, which has an entire hall devoted to prehistoric life.

The theropod (meaning "beast-footed") dinosaurs are a diverse group of bipedal saurischian dinosaurs. They include the largest terrestrial carnivores ever to have made the earth tremble.

Several characteristics that typify a theropod:

• They were all carnivores (meat-eaters)
  - Most theropods had sharp, recurved teeth useful for eating flesh, and claws were present on the ends of all of the fingers and toes.
• - They all used their back legs for walking and each foot had three toes
  - The fourth and fifth digits are reduced;
  - Most walked exclusively on two legs
  - They had hollow limb bones
  - The humerus (upper arm bone) is less than half as long as the femur (upper leg bone)