Confusing title, I admit. But it makes perfect sense 
When I visited the UMNH (previous posts here and here) they had a skeletal mount on visit. I didn’t post any pictures of it before because I was too lazy to research and write a post on the taxonomy. Now, Brian Switek has done the dirty work for me. Go read it, it is a classic Laelaps post (i.e., thorough and fun).
Here, now, come the pictures.
Saurosphaganax maximus, exhibited at UMNH in summer 2003 courtesy of DINOLAB.
Now, if this is an Allosaurus, then it deserves the name “Big Al” a lot more than the specimen that got it. Instead, the beast got the stupid name “SNAX”. doh!
Sadly, the room was a tad too small for me to get a complete lateral view (stupid camera!). Thus, I rotated it to get as much as possible into one shot.
What was really nice to see was a not-black Allosaurus cast (scaled up in this case). There wasn’t too much material found of S. maximus, so much of what you see is Allosaurus. And it looks so much less boring than the usual “fake-Morrison-black” casts you see all over.
You’ll have to come back and visit again – we have a completely new building with all-new exhibits!
Yeah, I read about that! Maybe I can stay over for a day or two next summer – I’ll be going to a dino dig and plan to fly into SLC from Europe.
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