Diluvicursor
"flood runner"
- Lived
- 113 to 110 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ornithopods
- Found in
- Australia
- Named by
- Herne et al. 2018
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
110 million years ago
Habitat
A deep, fast river cut through a forested floodplain in southern Australia. Leaellynasaura and Atlascopcosaurus are also known from the Eumeralla Formation.
Field notes
About Diluvicursor
What it was like
Diluvicursor was a small plant eater that ran on two legs. It had a long tail, and its skeleton is known from the hips down.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now Australia. The area was then far to the south, with cold winters and long nights. It shared that land with the small plant eaters Leaellynasaura and Atlascopcosaurus.
How it was found
Herne and colleagues named Diluvicursor in 2018. Its bones were buried by a fast river, which gave it its name.
Field gallery
More views of Diluvicursor
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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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 Diluvicursor.
The evidence
The science behind Diluvicursor
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The type specimen preserves an almost complete tail and part of a lower hind leg, including the ankle, foot and a reduced inner toe.
- The base of the tail has low vertebral arches and broad sideways projections, which the describers read as broad tail-base muscles.
- A separate tail vertebra from a larger individual was also assigned to Diluvicursor.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing head, trunk and arms can be compared with Dryosaurus, a small bipedal plant eater.
Still unknown
- The shape of its head and teeth.
- Its skin covering and color.
- Its exact place among small plant-eating dinosaurs, and whether it is the same animal as a genus named from jaw bones.
Discovery timeline
- 2018Named itHerne et al.
- 2019Family treeHerne et al.
- 2023Fossil sitesPoropat et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Diluvicursor
Named it
Named Diluvicursor from a juvenile's tail and lower leg buried in a fast river, with a larger tail vertebra assigned to the same genus.
A new small-bodied ornithopod (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from a deep, high-energy Early Cretaceous river of the Australian–Antarctic rift system. PeerJ 5: e4113
Read the paper : A new small-bodied ornithopod (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from a deep, high-energy Early Cretaceous river of the Australian–Antarctic rift system (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Compared Australian small ornithopods and placed Diluvicursor among southern relatives, though its exact position is poorly supported.
New small-bodied ornithopods (Dinosauria, Neornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous Wonthaggi Formation (Strzelecki Group) of the Australian-Antarctic rift system, with revision of Qantassaurus intrepidus Rich and Vickers-Rich, 1999. Journal of Paleontology 93: 543-584
Read the paper : New small-bodied ornithopods (Dinosauria, Neornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous Wonthaggi Formation (Strzelecki Group) of the Australian-Antarctic rift system, with revision of Qantassaurus intrepidus Rich and Vickers-Rich, 1999 (opens in a new tab)Fossil sites
Reviewed Diluvicursor's fossils and relationships, including the proposal that it might match an Australian ornithopod known from jaws.
An annotated checklist of Australian Mesozoic tetrapods. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 47: 129-205
Read the paper : An annotated checklist of Australian Mesozoic tetrapods (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Elasmaria
Sources: Wikidata