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Albertadromeus, Late CretaceousOldman Formation, Alberta · named 2013
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Albertadromeus

"Alberta runner"

Lived
84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Group
Early ornithischians, Thescelosauridae
Found in
Canada
Named by
Brown et al. 2013

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

1 find

80 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

Its bones come from the Oldman Formation in Alberta, Canada. Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus lived in the same region.

Field notes

About Albertadromeus

What it was like

Albertadromeus was a very small plant eater, about the size of a turkey, that ran on long hind legs. It is known from leg bones and part of the tail.

Its world

It lived in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Alberta, Canada. It comes from the Oldman Formation, where it shared the land with the tyrannosaurs Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus. Small, fast plant eaters like it were probably common prey.

How it was found

Brown and colleagues named Albertadromeus in 2013.

Field gallery

More views of Albertadromeus

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Albertadromeus in its habitat, photo 1

1 of 3

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations

A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Albertadromeus.

The evidence

The science behind Albertadromeus

Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.

From its own fossils

  • Its partial skeleton preserves hind-leg bones and part of the backbone.
  • The slender outer shin bone is reduced near the ankle and fused to the front of the main shin bone.
  • The top of its shin bone slopes down toward the back, and the bony ridge on the front of its knee end is relatively long.

Borrowed from relatives

  • The skull and forelimbs can be restored using small relatives such as Orodromeus and Zephyrosaurus as guides.

Still unknown

  • The shape of its own skull, including whether it had the cheek horn seen in relatives whose cheek bones are known.
  • Its closest relative. One analysis pairs it with Koreanosaurus, while a newer one moves Koreanosaurus to a different branch.
  • Whether it dug burrows like some other small plant-eating dinosaurs.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2007Close relativeVarricchio, Martin & Katsura
  2. 2013Named itBrown et al.
  3. 2021Family treeMadzia et al.
  4. 2024Family treeFonseca et al.
  5. 2026Close relativeAvrahami & Zanno

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Albertadromeus

Close relatives

Other members of Thescelosauridae

Sources: Wikidata