Look up · dinosaur 9 of 1,425
armored dinosaur · Doubtful name
Acanthopholis
Say it like this: “a-kan-THOF-o-lis”
Acanthopholis horrida
Acanthopholis ate plants and walked on four legs. It lived in the Late Cretaceous. Bones have been found in the United Kingdom.
- When
- Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) · roughly 100.5 to 93.9 million years ago
- Named in
- 1867 · Huxley, T. H.
- Hip height
- Not established
- Length
- 3–5.5 m · 10–18 ft
- Weight
- 380 kg · 838 lb
- Found in
- the United Kingdom · West Melbury Marly Chalk
- Food and walking
- Herbivore · Four legs
- Kind
- armored dinosaur · Ankylosaur
- Family branch
- Ankylosauria
The story in short
The genus Acanthopholis dates to 1867, the year T. H. Huxley described it. The name means “spiny scales.”
It lived in the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian), roughly 100.5 to 93.9 million years ago. Finds come from the United Kingdom, including the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on four legs.
Published estimates put Acanthopholis at a length near 3–5.5 m and a body mass around 380 kg.
On the family tree it sits in Ankylosauria, among the armored dinosaurs.
Close relatives
Ahshislepelta
Ahshislepelta minor
Late Cretaceous (Campanian) · roughly 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago
Crichtonsaurus
Crichtonsaurus bohlini
Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian · Turonian) · roughly 100.5 to 89.8 million years ago
Cryptosaurus
Cryptosaurus eumerus
Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) · roughly 161.5 to 154.8 million years ago