Late Jurassic

Phylogenetic relationships, chronostratigraphic, and paleoecological implications of M. intrepidus. a Graphic illustrating temporal range of North American tyrannosauroids including species-level range prior to the discovery of M. intrepidus, extension of current range, and hypothesized range based on isolated teeth12. The current gap in the North American tyrannosauroid record spans from the Tithonian to the Aptian. Faunal composition of Late Cretaceous ecosystems was established between the Albian and Turonian, as recognized by the stratigraphic appearance of major clades (see refs. 7,12 and references therein). b generalized phylogenetic relationships of Tyrannosauroidea, showing the appearance of select traits related to cursoriality in tyrannosaurs that are newly optimized as a result of the discovery of M. intrepidus. Tree topology follows this study using the modified dataset of Carr and colleagues27. Coelurus and Tanycolagreus are grafted as basal tyrannosauroids following Brusatte and colleagues5. c Stratigraphic distribution of Allosauria in North America (incl. Megaraptora but see ref. 70 for alternative hypotheses regarding this clade) documents overlap with M. intrepidus in early Late Cretaceous ecosystems leading to (d) refined calibration on the origin of late diverging tyrannosauroids and clade-level faunal turnover within apex predator roles throughout the Late Jurassic–Late Cretaceous of North America. Colored polygons are stylized call-outs and are not intended to reflect two-dimensional data. Temporal data corresponding to this figure are available in Supplementary Table 5

Life reconstruction of a herd of five individuals of Uragasaurus kalasinensis inhabiting a Late Jurassic forest in Thailand, accompanied by a pair of rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs and a metriacanthosaurid theropod. Artwork by Pakorn Chotchaiyaporn (Jæsica ẞababi).

Fujianvenator is an anchiornithid avialan from the Late Jurassic of China, whose discovery gave important insight to the evolution of birds. It had proportionately long legs, with the tibia twice the length of the femur. This suggests it may have been a strong runner, and possibly had a terrestrial or wading lifestyle. Fujianvenator was a small dinosaur, weighing about 640 g. As an avialan, it was almost certainly covered in feathers, though it does not seem likely to have been capable of flight.

Reconstruction of Makhaira rossica based on Late Jurassic pliosaurids and mid-Cretaceos brachauchenines; the orange coloured parts indicate fossils preserved in YKM 68249/1-10.

Tongnanlong is a large mamenchisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic period of what is now China. Typical of mamenchisaurids, it had an extremely long neck, even by sauropod standards. Tongnanlong grew to approximately 25 m in length and weighed 20-30 t, making it one of the largest mamenchisaurids.

Coelurus fragilis, a coelurosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America, pencil drawing, digital coloring

A map showing the distribution of paraves in Late Jurassic with the respective paleogeographic setting.

Diagram illustrating the "Temporal paradox" in paleontology. First given it's nickname by Alan Feduccia, the paradox is made up by the fact that almost all feathered dinosaurs are dated to have lived millions of years after Archaeopteryx, the oldest bird (late Jurassic, believed to have existed about 150 million years ago). Only a few of the feathered dinosaurs/birdlike dinosaurs are given an older date than Archaeopteryx.

Pencil drawing of Coelurus, a coelurosaurian dinosaur that lived from the Late Jurassic period (North America).

Coelurus fragilis, a coelurosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America, pencil drawing, digital coloring

Reconstructed skull of the holotype and only specimen of Leshansaurus qianweiensis based on the possibly related megalosaurid Dubreuillosaurus valesdunensis. Scale bar is 10cm, image is 10px/cm. Cranial anatomy from figures in Fei et al. (2009) "A new carnosaur from the Late Jurassic of Qianwei, Sichuan, China". White bones are figured, light grey bones are unfigured and minimally described.

Figure 1: Reconstruction of the skull of Bellusaurus sui from the Middle-Late Jurassic Shishugou Formation of Xinjiang, China. This reconstruction is a composite based on isolated holotypic and referred material. (A) Right lateral view. (B) Dorsal view. Holotypic elements are indicated in blue and referred elements are in green.

Paleogeography and paleoclimate of the Late Jurassic - 150 Ma with dinosaur fossil localities: A = Tendaguru Formation, Tanzania C1 = Shishugou & Kalazha Formations, China C2 = Shangshaximiao (Upper Shaximiao) Formation, China E1 = Sables de Glos, Argiles d’Octeville, Marnes de Bléville, Kimmeridge Clay, Calcareous Grit, Corallian Oolite, Oxford Clay, Portland Stone, England & France E2 = Villar del Arzobispo, Alcobaça, Guimarota, Sobral, Amoreira-Porto Novo, Bombarral, Freixial, Lourinhã Formations, Spain & Portugal M1-6 = Morrison Formation, United States S1 = Toquí & Cañadón Calcáreo Formations, Chile & Argentina

Left ilium of Stokesosaurus clevelandi, Madsen 1974 (UMNH VP 7473), Morrison Formation, Utah, USA, Late Jurassic (early Tithonian).