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bird-hipped dinosaur
Archaeocursor
Say it like this: “AH-kee-o-CUR-suh”
Archaeocursor asiaticus
Archaeocursor ate plants and walked on two legs. It lived in the Early Jurassic. Bones have been found in China.
- When
- Early Jurassic (Sinemurian · Pliensbachian) · roughly 199.5 to 184.2 million years ago
- Named in
- 2025 · Yao, X.; Zhao, Q.; Ren, T.; Wei, G.; Xu, X.
- Hip height
- 0.2 m · 1 ft
- Length
- 1 m · 3 ft
- Weight
- 2 kg · 4 lb
- Found in
- China · Ziliujing
- Food and walking
- Herbivore · Two legs
- Kind
- bird-hipped dinosaur · Ornithischian
- Family branch
- Ornithischia
The story in short
The genus Archaeocursor dates to 2025, the year X. Yao and colleagues described it. The name means “old runner.”
It lived in the Early Jurassic (Sinemurian · Pliensbachian), roughly 199.5 to 184.2 million years ago. Finds come from China, including the Ziliujing Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on two legs.
Published estimates put Archaeocursor at a length near 1 m, hips about 0.2 m high, and a body mass around 2 kg.
On the family tree it sits in Ornithischia, among the bird-hipped dinosaurs.
Close relatives
Alocodon
Alocodon kuehnei
Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic (Callovian · Oxfordian) · roughly 165.3 to 154.8 million years ago
Amtosaurus
Amtosaurus magnus
Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian · Turonian) · roughly 100.5 to 89.8 million years ago
Brachypodosaurus
Brachypodosaurus gravis
Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) · roughly 72.2 to 66 million years ago