Edmarka

Taxobox|
name = "Edmarka"
fossil_range = Tithonian
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Saurischia
subordo = Theropoda
familia = Megalosauridae
genus = "Edmarka"
binomial = "Edmarka rex"
binomial_authority = Bakker, Kralis, Siegwarth & Filla, 1992

"Edmarka" is a genus of dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America. The name honours scientist Bill Edmark. It was a theropod closely related to "Torvosaurus", and may, in fact, be a junior synonym of that genus. Its fossils, including a partial skeleton, were found at Como Bluff, Wyoming.

The type species, "E. rex", was described in 1992 by Robert Bakker, Donald Kralis, James Siegwarth and James Filla. They distinguished their new species from "Torvosaurus tanneri" by features of the jugal bone, which shows both primitive and derived features. The scapula-coracoid, ribs, and pubis were also described. Bakker "et al". were impressed with the size of "Edmarka", noting that it "would rival "T. rex" in total length," and viewing this approximate size as "a natural ceiling for dinosaurian meat-eaters." Torvosaurine megalosaurs appear to occupy the top predator niche only in the lower and middle Morrison Formation, and were replaced in the upper Morrison Formation by giant allosaurids. The presence of "Torvosaurus" and "Edmarka" in various Morrison Formation rocks upholds Dr. Robert T. Bakker's theory that there is only one large predator in a setting, and the presence of it prevents the evolution of any other.

References

* Bakker, R.T., D. Kralis, J. Siegwarth & J. Filla, 1992. "Edmarka rex", a new, gigantic theropod dinosaur from the middle Morrison Formation, Late Jurassic of the Como Bluff Outcrop Region. "Hunteria" 2 (9): 1-24.

External links

* [http://www.dinoruss.com/de_4/5a654a3.htm "Edmarka"] in the Dinosaur Encyclopedia