Corythosaurus in its habitatDinosaur Park Fm., AlbertaNamed 1914

Corythosaurus

koh-RITH-oh-SORE-us

"helmeted lizard"

Lived
84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Length
about 10 m (33 ft)
Group
Ornithopods, Hadrosauridae
Found in
Canada and United States
Named by
Brown 1914

Size comparison

To scale

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

29 finds

80 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Field notes

About Corythosaurus

What it was like

Corythosaurus was a duck-billed dinosaur best known for the tall, rounded crest on its head, shaped somewhat like a helmet. It grew to about 10 meters (33 feet) long and walked on four legs while feeding, though it could likely rear up on two. The crest was hollow, connected to the nasal passages, and probably helped the animal make sounds, perhaps to call to others of its kind.

Its world

Corythosaurus lived in what is now Alberta, Canada, and Montana, in the United States, during the Late Cretaceous, between about 84 and 72 million years ago. Its bones, twenty-nine finds in all, come mainly from the Dinosaur Park Formation, along with the Oldman, Judith River, and Two Medicine formations.

It shared its world with the tyrannosaur Gorgosaurus, the small predator Troodon, and the armored Euoplocephalus.

How it was found

Brown named Corythosaurus in 1914. It belongs to Hadrosauridae, the family of duck-billed dinosaurs, and is closely related to other crested forms such as Lambeosaurus and Olorotitan. With twenty-nine finds, it is one of the best-known hadrosaurs, including specimens preserved with skin impressions.

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations

Close relatives

Other members of Hadrosauridae

Sources: WikidataNamed in: B. Brown. 1914. Corythosaurus casuarius, a new crested dinosaur from the Belly River Cretaceous, with provisional classification of the family Trachodontidae. 33(35):559-564