Look up · dinosaur 14 of 1,425
beaked plant-eater
Acristavus
Say it like this: “AK-riss-TAH-vuss”
Acristavus gagslarsoni
Acristavus ate plants and walked on two or four legs. It lived in the Late Cretaceous. Bones have been found in the United States.
- When
- Late Cretaceous (Campanian) · roughly 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago
- Named in
- 2011 · Gates, T. A.; Horner, J. R.; Hanna, R. R.; Nelson, C. R.
- Hip height
- 1.9 m · 6 ft
- Length
- 8 m · 26 ft
- Weight
- 3 tonnes
- Found in
- the United States · Two Medicine
- Food and walking
- Herbivore · Two or four legs
- Kind
- beaked plant-eater · Ornithopod
- Family branch
- Saurolophinae
The story in short
In 2011, T. A. Gates and colleagues published the name Acristavus. The name means “non-crested grandfather.”
It lived in the Late Cretaceous (Campanian), roughly 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago. Finds come from the United States, including the Two Medicine Formation. It was a herbivore and could move on two or four legs.
Published estimates put Acristavus at a length near 8 m, hips about 1.9 m high, and a body mass around 3 tonnes.
On the family tree it sits in Saurolophinae, among the ornithopod dinosaurs.
Close relatives
Ahshislesaurus
Ahshislesaurus wimani
Late Cretaceous (Campanian) · roughly 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago
Anasazisaurus
Anasazisaurus horneri
Late Cretaceous (Campanian) · roughly 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago
Augustynolophus
Augustynolophus morrisi
Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) · roughly 72.2 to 66 million years ago