Canardia
"duck"
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ornithopods, Hadrosauridae
- Found in
- France
- Named by
- Prieto-Marquez et al. 2013
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Habitat
Canardia lived on an island in the European archipelago. Its fossil-bearing rocks record coastal lagoons and tidal marshes that gave way to river floodplains.
Field notes
About Canardia
What it was like
Canardia was a duck-billed plant eater from the crested group that includes Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus. Its own crest bones have not been found. It is known from parts of the skull and skeleton.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous, in what is now southern France. Europe was then a chain of islands, and Canardia was among the last duckbills there.
How it was found
Prieto-Marquez and colleagues named it in 2013.
Field gallery
More views of Canardia
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 2
The evidence
The science behind Canardia
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The type specimen is a single right upper jaw bone. A broad, roughly rectangular flange rises above its front end, and the front tip of the bone is bent downward.
- Other bones assigned to it include skull pieces, teeth, shoulder bones, an upper arm bone and part of the hip. Two left shoulder blades show they come from at least two animals.
- A bone assigned to it from the upper front rim of the eye socket has a roughened edge.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing bill, face and body are restored by comparison with better-known duckbills such as Edmontosaurus, and the hands with Corythosaurus.
- Aralosaurus has a similar raised flange on its upper jaw.
Still unknown
- Its head crest: the bones that would form it have not been found, so its shape and size are unknown.
- Its closest relatives. The study that named it grouped it with Aralosaurus, while later studies place it among European and African crested duckbills, and experts still debate how the crested duckbills of its region relate because most are named from different bones.
- Its adult size, skin texture and color.
Discovery timeline
- 2013Named itPrieto-Márquez et al.
- 2021Family treeLongrich et al.
- 2024Family treeLongrich et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Canardia
Named it
Named Canardia from jaw and skeletal remains in France and compared its distinctive upper jaw with Aralosaurus.
Diversity, Relationships, and Biogeography of the Lambeosaurine Dinosaurs from the European Archipelago, with Description of the New Aralosaurin Canardia garonnensis. PLoS ONE 8: e69835
Read the paper : Diversity, Relationships, and Biogeography of the Lambeosaurine Dinosaurs from the European Archipelago, with Description of the New Aralosaurin Canardia garonnensis (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Grouped Canardia with European and African crested duckbills and proposed that their ancestors crossed marine barriers.
The first duckbill dinosaur (Hadrosauridae: Lambeosaurinae) from Africa and the role of oceanic dispersal in dinosaur biogeography. Cretaceous Research 120: 104678
Read the paper : The first duckbill dinosaur (Hadrosauridae: Lambeosaurinae) from Africa and the role of oceanic dispersal in dinosaur biogeography (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Compared Minqaria with Canardia and other crested duckbills, supporting links between the European and African members of the group.
A new small duckbilled dinosaur (Hadrosauridae: Lambeosaurinae) from Morocco and dinosaur diversity in the late Maastrichtian of North Africa. Scientific Reports 14
Read the paper : A new small duckbilled dinosaur (Hadrosauridae: Lambeosaurinae) from Morocco and dinosaur diversity in the late Maastrichtian of North Africa (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Hadrosauridae
Sources: Wikidata