Cariocecus

Cariocecus bocagei

Cariocecus ate plants and walked on two or four legs. It lived in the Early Cretaceous. Bones have been found in Portugal.

Quiz me on Cariocecus

When: Early Cretaceous (Barremian) · roughly 125.8 to 121.4 million years ago
Named in: 2025 · Bertozzo, F.; Camilo, B.; Araújo, R.; Manucci, F.; Kullberg, J. C.; Cerio, D. G.; de Carvalho, V. F.; Marrecas, P.; Figueiredo, S. D.; Godefroit, P.
Hip height: Not established
Length: Not established
Weight: Not established
Found in: Portugal · Papo Seco
Food and walking: Herbivore · Two or four legs
Kind: beaked plant-eater · Ornithopod
Family branch: Hadrosauroidea

The story in short

In 2025, F. Bertozzo and colleagues published the name Cariocecus. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.

It lived in the Early Cretaceous (Barremian), roughly 125.8 to 121.4 million years ago. Finds come from Portugal, including the Papo Seco Formation. It was a herbivore and could move on two or four legs.

The fossils of Cariocecus are too incomplete for a responsible length, hip height, or weight, so those fields are left blank on purpose.

On the family tree it sits in Hadrosauroidea, among the ornithopod dinosaurs.

Close relatives

Altirhinus

Altirhinus kurzanovi

Early Cretaceous (Albian) · roughly 113.2 to 100.5 million years ago

Batyrosaurus

Batyrosaurus rozhdestvenskyi

Late Cretaceous (Santonian · Campanian) · roughly 85.7 to 72.2 million years ago

Bolong

Bolong yixianensis

Early Cretaceous (Barremian) · roughly 125.8 to 121.4 million years ago