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EXHIBIT 158

Daemonosaurus

Daemonosaurus chauliodus

Daemonosaurus is known from a small, deep skull with unusually enlarged front teeth. [3]

Evidence profile

TWO WAYS TO PICTURE THE PAST

Compare the evidence with the familiar movie image. The illustrations are not to a shared scale.

01 / FOSSIL VIEW

The evidence in the bones

Cast of Daemonosaurus chauliodus type CM 76821 skull displayed at Ghost Ranch.

Cast of Daemonosaurus chauliodus holotype CM 76821, photographed by Neil Pezzoni at the Ruth Hall Museum of Paleontology, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. The skull’s preserved crushed arrangement is reproduced in a display cast; this is neither original fossil material nor a measured whole body. The known animal includes skull and anterior neck remains. [2]

Daemonosaurus skull cast displayed at Ruth Hall Museum of Paleontology (Ghost Ranch).jpg · Neil Pezzoni. CC BY 4.0. Current Commons 1280 px preview converted to WebP with proportional thumbnail reduction. No cropping, mirroring, anatomical edits or compositing. CC BY 4.0 applies to these versions.

The photograph or figure shows the credited fossil material; displayed mounts and labels can include interpretation.

02 / MOVIE-STYLE INTERPRETATION

A cinematic imagination

Illustrative reconstruction of Daemonosaurus chauliodus; missing anatomy, covering and colors are hypotheses.

Original cinematic interpretation of Daemonosaurus. The short, deep skull and enlarged front teeth are fossil-guided; the missing body, limbs and feather-like covering are comparative artistic hypotheses. Lighting, colors and scenery are artistic choices; this image does not document directly observed behavior. Lighting, coloration and scenery are artistic choices. This image does not document a fossil locality or behavior.

Original artwork · artistic interpretation.

Scientific view: source-informed reconstruction, credited paleoart or specimen-based imagery. Movie-style view: Original artistic interpretation. Reconstructions involve uncertainty.

PERIODLate Triassic[2]
DIETCarnivoreEvidence and uncertainty in the dossier
TOTAL LENGTHSee the dossierEstimate scope matters
FOSSILS FOUNDUSA[2]
CompareRead the dossierView the sources

MEET THE ANIMAL

Meet Daemonosaurus

Daemonosaurus was a Late Triassic dinosaur with a short, deep skull and conspicuously enlarged front teeth. Its fossils were found in the Coelophysis Quarry at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. The original description introduced a distinctive animal rather than merely another specimen of the dinosaur that dominates that quarry. Its unusual head provides the clearest part of the profile. [D1]

Large teeth angled forward from the front of the mouth, supporting a carnivorous interpretation. However, the known remains include the head and neck rather than a complete body. A comparison with a dog's size in an institutional account is an analogy, not a measured body length. A fully restored torso and legs therefore require evidence from related dinosaurs. [D3]

The quarry's deposits record remains transported by water into an abandoned river channel and covered by sediment. This setting explains why bones from different animals can occur together. It does not show that Daemonosaurus lived in a pack or socialized with Coelophysis. Understanding how a fossil deposit formed is essential before turning an association of bones into a behavioral story. [D4]

PREHISTORIC ANIMAL DOSSIER

A life in profile.

The animal, the evidence, and the questions still open.

The body remains unknown. Its proposed placement in Morphoraptora is part of an unsettled early dinosaur family tree. [D5] [D3]

Profile scope: Genus — Daemonosaurus; profile limited to D. chauliodus, CM 76821. [D2]

Time
Late Triassic
Fossil locations in this exhibit
USA
How to read the evidence

Source supported identifies a description documented by the cited source. Inferred marks a reconstruction or functional estimate. Debated marks competing interpretations. Not established means the sources reviewed for this dossier do not support a firm conclusion; it does not mean a behavior never occurred.

A size reference is an estimate, not a population range. Nesting evidence does not by itself establish courtship, mate choice, or lifelong pairing.

Body length

Not established

Not established here

The skull measures about 140 mm from premaxilla tip to quadrate; no preserved body establishes total length. [D2]

Body mass

Not established

Not established here

Known skull and neck remains do not supply a defensible whole-body mass model. The institutional dog-size analogy is not a measurement. [D3]

Diet and feeding

Inferred

Animal prey inferred

Enlarged, forward-angled front teeth support carnivory, but no gut contents or taxon-specific hunting behavior were identified. [D3]

Habitat and setting

Source supported

Coelophysis Quarry river-channel deposit

Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, latest Triassic; regional sediments represent an abandoned channel buried by overbank silt. [D2] [D4]

Movement

Inferred

Two-legged restoration by comparison

The type lacks limbs and pelvis. A bipedal body is reconstructed through dinosaur comparisons rather than preserved Daemonosaurus leg anatomy. [D2]

Recognizable anatomy

Source supported

Short, deep skull; enlarged front teeth

Large eye openings and a short snout distinguish the preserved cranium; the type is crushed, incomplete and partly reconstructed. [D2]

Reproduction & life together

Reproduction and nesting

Not established

Not established here

The skull-and-neck type does not establish sexual maturity, breeding age, eggs, nests or care of offspring. [D2]

Mating and courtship

Not established

Not established here

The enlarged teeth are anatomical evidence; no reviewed source identifies a sex-linked display or mating ritual. [D1]

Social behavior

Not established

Not established here

The quarry is dominated by Coelophysis and includes transported remains. Sharing a deposit does not establish Daemonosaurus pack behavior. [D4]

Dossier research & sources

Sources and inspection notes for the claims in this profile.

  1. A late-surviving basal theropod dinosaur from the latest Triassic of North America (Sues et al., 2011)Proceedings of the Royal Society B; Smithsonian research record · Accessed 2026-10-02Original abstract inspected through institutional record and indexed abstract: short, deep skull and strongly enlarged front teeth; new genus from the Coelophysis Quarry. Full 2011 paper was not accessible. · Inspected: abstract
  2. The osteology of the early-diverging dinosaur Daemonosaurus chauliodus ... and its relationships to other early dinosaurs (Nesbitt and Sues, 2021; online 2020)Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society · Accessed 2026-10-02Full original osteology/systematics inspected via publisher minimal page: type CM 76821 preserves skull, mandible, anterior cervicals and ribs. Description measures skull at 140 mm; diagnosis gives an estimated 145 mm. Latest Triassic age and relationships remain qualified. · Inspected: page
  3. New dog-sized dinosaur discovered (Gibbons, 2011)Smithsonian Institution · Accessed 2026-10-02Full institutional account inspected: skull and neck are known, total body length is uncertain; enlarged, angled teeth support carnivorous interpretation. Dog-sized language is an analogy, not a measured body. · Inspected: page
  4. Geology and taphonomy of the Coelophysis quarry ... Ghost Ranch, New Mexico (Schwartz and Gillette, 1994)Journal of Paleontology · Accessed 2026-10-02Original abstract inspected: water-transported remains concentrated in an abandoned river channel, covered by overbank silt. Quarry-wide interpretation is not a Daemonosaurus group association. · Inspected: abstract
  5. A new taxon of saurischian dinosaur from the Coelophysis Quarry of New Mexico, USA (Triassic: latest Norian or Rhaetian) highlights herrerasaurian diversity in the latest Triassic (Srivastava and Nesbitt, 2026)Papers in Palaeontology · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full systematics and phylogenetic discussion inspected: Morphoraptora hypothesis includes Tawa, Chindesaurus and Daemonosaurus; Ptychotherates and Chindesaurus types lack anatomical overlap. Distinct stratigraphic horizons support their separate naming, not a settled synonym. · Inspected: page

THE STORY IN THE FOSSILS

A distinctive skull, an unknown body.

The osteological study separates a measured 140 mm skull length from the 145 mm estimate in the diagnosis. Neither is total body length. [2]

The 2026 analysis groups Daemonosaurus with several other early saurischians while leaving their deeper evolutionary relationships uncertain. [5]

A note on scale and time

The dossier identifies the scope of each reference estimate. A mount, an individual fossil and a species-wide adult range are different measurements. Comparison metrics remain unavailable where adult scope has not been established. Unknown does not mean zero.

Sources & editorial notes

Sources support the stated claims and scopes. Refer to the evidence notes for uncertainty.

  1. A late-surviving basal theropod dinosaur from the latest Triassic of North America (Sues et al., 2011)Proceedings of the Royal Society B; Smithsonian research record · Accessed 2026-10-02Original abstract inspected through institutional record and indexed abstract: short, deep skull and strongly enlarged front teeth; new genus from the Coelophysis Quarry. Full 2011 paper was not accessible. · Inspected: abstract
  2. The osteology of the early-diverging dinosaur Daemonosaurus chauliodus ... and its relationships to other early dinosaurs (Nesbitt and Sues, 2021; online 2020)Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society · Accessed 2026-10-02Full original osteology/systematics inspected via publisher minimal page: type CM 76821 preserves skull, mandible, anterior cervicals and ribs. Description measures skull at 140 mm; diagnosis gives an estimated 145 mm. Latest Triassic age and relationships remain qualified. · Inspected: page
  3. New dog-sized dinosaur discovered (Gibbons, 2011)Smithsonian Institution · Accessed 2026-10-02Full institutional account inspected: skull and neck are known, total body length is uncertain; enlarged, angled teeth support carnivorous interpretation. Dog-sized language is an analogy, not a measured body. · Inspected: page
  4. Geology and taphonomy of the Coelophysis quarry ... Ghost Ranch, New Mexico (Schwartz and Gillette, 1994)Journal of Paleontology · Accessed 2026-10-02Original abstract inspected: water-transported remains concentrated in an abandoned river channel, covered by overbank silt. Quarry-wide interpretation is not a Daemonosaurus group association. · Inspected: abstract
  5. A new taxon of saurischian dinosaur from the Coelophysis Quarry of New Mexico, USA (Triassic: latest Norian or Rhaetian) highlights herrerasaurian diversity in the latest Triassic (Srivastava and Nesbitt, 2026)Papers in Palaeontology · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full systematics and phylogenetic discussion inspected: Morphoraptora hypothesis includes Tawa, Chindesaurus and Daemonosaurus; Ptychotherates and Chindesaurus types lack anatomical overlap. Distinct stratigraphic horizons support their separate naming, not a settled synonym. · Inspected: page

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