Penelopognathus

Say it like this: “pen-el-o-pog-nay-thus”

Penelopognathus weishampeli

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

Quiz me on Penelopognathus

When: Early Cretaceous (Aptian) · roughly 121.4 to 113.2 million years ago
Named in: 2005 · Godefroit, P.; Li, H.; Shang, C. Y.
Hip height: Not established
Length: 5 m · 16 ft
Weight: Not established
Found in: China · Bayin-Gobi
Food and walking: Herbivore · Two or four legs
Kind: beaked plant-eater · Ornithopod
Family branch: Hadrosauroidea

The story in short

The genus Penelopognathus dates to 2005, the year P. Godefroit and colleagues described it. The name means “wild duck jaw.”

Fossils referred to Penelopognathus date to the Early Cretaceous (Aptian), roughly 121.4 to 113.2 million years ago. Finds come from China, including the Bayin-Gobi Formation. It was a herbivore and could move on two or four legs.

Published estimates put Penelopognathus at a length near 5 m.

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