Dryptosaurus

- Other Names: Laelaps
- Pronunciation: DRIP-tuh-SAWR-us
- Translation: Tearing Lizard, or Wounding Lizard
- Order: Saurischia
- Suborder: Theropoda
- Infraorder: Tetanurae
- Micro-order: Carnosauria (not confirmed)
- Family: Dryptosauridae
- Height: 9 feet (2.7 meters)
- Weight: 3,000 pounds (1,360 kg)
- Length: 20 feet (6.1 meters)
- Period: Late Cretaceous
- Description: Carnivore, Bipedal
- Notes: Dryptosaurus was the first meat-eating dinosaur to bediscovered in North America. Its most striking feature is the8-inch (20-cm), talon-like claw with which each hand wasequipped. Although Dryptosaurus is generally pictured aslooking like Tyrannosaurus, recent thought makes it acoelurosaur.