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beaked plant-eater
Bactrosaurus
Say it like this: “BAK-tro-SAWR-us”
Bactrosaurus johnsoni
Bactrosaurus ate plants and walked on two or four legs. It lived in the Late Cretaceous. Bones have been found in China.
- When
- Late Cretaceous (Campanian) · roughly 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago
- Named in
- 1933 · Gilmore, C. W.
- Hip height
- Not established
- Length
- 6–6.5 m · 20–21 ft
- Weight
- 1.2 tonnes
- Found in
- China · Iren Dabasu
- Food and walking
- Herbivore · Two or four legs
- Kind
- beaked plant-eater · Ornithopod
- Family branch
- Hadrosauromorpha
The story in short
The genus Bactrosaurus dates to 1933, the year C. W. Gilmore described it. The name means “club lizard.”
Fossils referred to Bactrosaurus date to the Late Cretaceous (Campanian), roughly 83.6 to 72.2 million years ago. Finds come from China, including the Iren Dabasu Formation. It was a herbivore and could move on two or four legs.
Published estimates put Bactrosaurus at a length near 6–6.5 m and a body mass around 1.2 tonnes.
On the family tree it sits in Hadrosauromorpha, among the ornithopod dinosaurs.