Dilophosaurus wetherilli

The most famous early theropod dinosaur, Dilophosaurus lived during the Early Jurassic in the American southwest. Best known from Arizona, it had a distinctive pair of thin, arching crests on its skull.

Its appearance in the book and movies of the Jurassic Park franchise made it a dinosaur celebrity, but its fame has gone hand in hand with several fictional misconceptions. First, there is no evidence of venom in Dilophosaurus (which is often indicated by pits in the skull and/or teeth), let alone spitting black goo. The movie’s largest fictional departure is the giant, expanding frill of skin around the head and neck. Species that have this (like the frilled lizard, which inspired it) have enormously expanded hyoids and other throat elements to move and expand the frill - elements that Dilophosaurus does not have.

The frill was added to Dilophosaurus in the movie to solve a specific problem - there was concern that movie-goers might mix up Velociraptor and Dilophosaurus, especially since they had decided to enlarge their movie ‘raptors to be closer to the actual size of Dilophosaurus. Yet they still thought people might be confused, so they shrunk the movie Dilophosaurus down as well, making both theropods the wrong size. At roughly 7 meters / 23 feet long, Dilophosaurus was actually among the largest land predators of the Early Jurassic.