Valdosaurus

Say it like this: “VAL-do-SAWR-us”

Valdosaurus canaliculatus

Valdosaurus ate plants and walked on two legs. It lived in the Early Cretaceous. Bones have been found in the United Kingdom.

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When: Early Cretaceous (Barremian) · roughly 125.8 to 121.4 million years ago
Named in: 1977 · Galton, P. M.
Hip height: 1.3 m · 4 ft
Length: 3 m · 10 ft
Weight: 10–400 kg · 22–882 lb
Found in: the United Kingdom · Wessex
Food and walking: Herbivore · Two legs
Kind: beaked plant-eater · Ornithopod
Family branch: Dryosauridae

The story in short

The genus Valdosaurus dates to 1977, the year P. M. Galton described it. The name means “a wood.”

It lived in the Early Cretaceous (Barremian), roughly 125.8 to 121.4 million years ago. Finds come from the United Kingdom, including the Wessex Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on two legs.

Published estimates put Valdosaurus at a length near 3 m, hips about 1.3 m high, and a body mass around 10–400 kg.

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

Close relatives

Callovosaurus

Callovosaurus leedsi

Middle Jurassic (Callovian) · roughly 165.3 to 161.5 million years ago

Dryosaurus

Dryosaurus altus

Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian · Tithonian) · roughly 154.8 to 143.1 million years ago

Dysalotosaurus

Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki

Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) · roughly 154.8 to 149.2 million years ago