Discovery and Species
The first Dilophosaurus specimens were discovered by Sam Welles in the summer of 1942 in Arizona. The specimen was brought back to Berkeley for cleaning and mounting, where it was given the name Megalosaurus wetherilli in 1954. Returning to the same formation in 1964 to determine from which time period the bones dated, Welles found a new specimen not far from the location of the previous discovery. The specimens were renamed Dilophosaurus in 1970, based on the double crest clearly visible in the new skeleton.
There is another species of Dilophosaurus (D. sinensis), which may or may not belong to this genus. It is possibly closer to the Antarctic theropod Cryolophosaurus, based on the fact that the anterior end of the jugal does not participate in the internal antorbital fenestra and that the maxillary tooth row is completely in front of the orbit and ends anterior to the vertical strut of the lacrimal. This species was recovered from the Yunnan Province of China in 1987, with the prosauropod Yunnanosaurus and later described and named in 1993 by Shaojin Hu.
A third species, D. breedorum, was coined by Samuel Welles through Welles and Pickering (1999). This species was based upon crested specimen UCMP 77270. Welles' original material lacked well-preserved crests, and he suggested that the crested specimens pertained to a different species. He was unable to complete a manuscript describing this during his lifetime, and the name eventually came out in a private publication distributed by Pickering. This species has not been accepted as valid in other reviews of the genus.
Tracks of an unidentified species of Dilophosaurus has been found in Vallåkra, Sweden. A few of the tracks were taken to museums, but most of them disappeared in natural floodings.
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