Ceratosaurus lived at about the same time as Allosaurus and was similar in many general respects to that dinosaur, but the two were not closely related. Ceratosaurus belongs to a more primitive theropod stock that includes the coelophysids (Coelophysis) and abelisaurids. Although it weighed up to two tons, this dinosaur was slightly smaller than Allosaurus and bore a distinctive “horn” (actually an expanded nasal crest) on its snout and a row of bony plates down the middle of its back. Ceratosaurus also differed from allosaurs in that it retained remnants of a fourth clawed finger, unlike the three typical of most theropods.