Pawpawsaurus

Say it like this: “paw-paw-SAWR-us”

Pawpawsaurus campbelli

Pawpawsaurus ate plants and walked on four legs. It lived in the Early Cretaceous. Bones have been found in the United States.

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When: Early Cretaceous (Albian) · roughly 113.2 to 100.5 million years ago
Named in: 1996 · Lee, Y. N.
Hip height: 0.7 m · 2 ft
Length: 4.5 m · 15 ft
Weight: 220 kg · 485 lb
Found in: the United States · Paw Paw
Food and walking: Herbivore · Four legs
Kind: armored dinosaur · Ankylosaur
Family branch: Nodosauridae

The story in short

The genus Pawpawsaurus dates to 1996, the year Y. N. Lee described it. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.

It lived in the Early Cretaceous (Albian), roughly 113.2 to 100.5 million years ago. Finds come from the United States, including the Paw Paw Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on four legs.

Published estimates put Pawpawsaurus at a length near 4.5 m, hips about 0.7 m high, and a body mass around 220 kg.

On the family tree it sits in Nodosauridae, among the armored dinosaurs.

Close relatives

Acantholipan

Acantholipan gonzalezi

Late Cretaceous (Santonian) · roughly 85.7 to 83.6 million years ago

Animantarx

Animantarx ramaljonesi

Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) · roughly 100.5 to 93.9 million years ago

Anoplosaurus

Anoplosaurus curtonotus

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