Thescelosaurus
Thescelosaurus was a medium-sized[1] plant-eating dinosaur. It lived in forests during the late Cretaceous period in North America, about 68 to 65 million years ago.
| Thescelosaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous
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| Thescelosaurus at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Illinois | |
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| Genus: | Thescelosaurus |
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One complete specimen and eight incomplete Thescelosaurus skeletons, including skin impressions, are known. They have been found in Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota in the USA, and in Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada.
True Thescelosaurus remains are known definitely only from late Maastrichtian-age rocks, from Canada, Wyoming, Montana (Hell Creek), and Colorado (Laramie Formation), USA.
With the exception of birds, it was one of the last genera of dinosaurs. Its remains were found three meters from the boundary clay containing the iridium layer that marks the end of the Cretaceous.[2]
Thescelosaurus Media
T. neglectus holotype at the Smithsonian Museum, with skull and neck restored after Camptosaurus
Charles Gilmore's 1915 reconstruction of the T. neglectus type specimen
Cast of CMN 8537, described as the type specimen for T. edmontonensis (T. sp. per Boyd et al., [2009])
Thescelosaurus with skin impressions, Museum of the Rockies specimen 979
Size of two Thescelosaurus species (right) compared to its relatives Parksosaurus (center) and Orodromeus (left), as well as a human
T. neglectus protofeathered reconstruction
Front of reconstructed skeleton, Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center
Skull of T. neglectus NCSM 15728 ("Willo") in left and right view
T. neglectus scaly restoration
"Willo" specimen, with the possible heart left of the shoulder blade
References
- ↑ 2.5 and 4.0 meters (8.2 to 13.1 ft) in length on average.
- ↑ Carpenter, Kenneth; Breithaupt, Brent H. (1986). "Latest Cretaceous occurrences of nodosaurid ankylosaurs (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) in Western North America and the gradual extinction of the dinosaurs". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 6 (3): 251–257. doi:10.1080/02724634.1986.10011619.