Recently, Everything Dinosaur team members blogged about a dinosaur book from their childhood.  The book was part of the Ladybird publication series.  It featured an illustration of a theropod dinosaur on the front cover.  We recall the Antrodemus dinosaur illustration.

To read Everything Dinosaur’s earlier blog post: Dinosaur Books from Childhood Bring Back Happy Memories.

Our copy of the book was published in 1974.  This edition is fifty years old.  We reminisced about the meat-eating dinosaur on the front cover and asked our blog readers and social media followers whether they too had a copy.  Could they remember the genus illustrated on the front cover?  As always, our customers and social media followers were up for the challenge and many correctly guessed that it was an Antrodemus.  A later print run of this book corrected the image and declared it an Allosaurus.

Antrodemus (A. valens) is a genus with a nomen dubium designation.  There are considerable doubts whether Antrodemus valens is a valid species.  The fossils from the famous Morrison Formation of the USA could represent an Allosaurus.

The picture of Antrodemus from the Ladybird book “Dinosaurs”. The illustrations for this book were created by B. H. Robinson. The Antrodemus is threatening a Stegosaurus. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

An Antrodemus Illustration

The artwork for the Ladybird book of dinosaurs was produced by B. H. Robinson.  We have included a photograph of the page from the book that shows the Antrodemus.  A red arrow has been added to the text to highlight the Antrodemus.  Allosaurus is the most common taxon of theropod dinosaur known from the Morrison Formation of the USA.  That being the case then the fragmentary fossil bones attributed to Antrodemus valens could represent an Allosaurus.

The Haolonggood Allosaurus dinosaur models (Allosaurus Yangzhi and Suochao). These are modern reconstructions of the iconic Allosaurus taxon.

The image (above) shows a pair of Haolonggood Allosaurus dinosaur models. These are 1:35 scale figures and are popular with dinosaur model collectors.

To view the range of Haolonggood figures in stock: Haolonggood Prehistoric Animal Figures.

The Ladybird book of dinosaurs. One of the first dinosaur books owned by a team member. The Antrodemus/Allosaurus is on the front cover.  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Some of our customers remember the later edition, with the Antrodemus labelled as Allosaurus.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Dinosaur Toys and Models.