Dysalotosaurus
"uncatchable lizard"
- Lived
- 152 to 149 million years ago, Late Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ornithopods, Dryosauridae
- Found in
- Tanzania
- Named by
- Virchow 1919
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
150 million years ago
Habitat
Its world included coastal plains, tidal flats and lagoons, with conifers growing in the wider region. Giraffatitan, Dicraeosaurus and Kentrosaurus are other dinosaurs from the Tendaguru Formation.
Field notes
About Dysalotosaurus
What it was like
Dysalotosaurus was a small, fast plant eater, a close relative of Dryosaurus. It had long legs, a beak and a stiff tail for balance.
Thousands of its bones have been found, from young animals and adults, which has let scientists study how it grew and even find signs of illness in its bones.
Its world
It lived in the Late Jurassic in what is now Tanzania, in eastern Africa. Its bones come from the Tendaguru beds, where it shared the land with the giant long-necked Giraffatitan and Dicraeosaurus, the stegosaur Kentrosaurus and the hunters Elaphrosaurus and Ceratosaurus.
How it was found
Virchow named Dysalotosaurus in 1919. Its bones were found in a bone bed that seems to hold a herd that died together.
Field gallery
More views of Dysalotosaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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 Dysalotosaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Dysalotosaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Thousands of bones include skulls, jaws and bones from across the body, from animals at several growth stages.
- Young skulls have shorter snouts and proportionally larger eye sockets than those of older animals.
- Microscopic bone structure records alternating phases of slower and faster growth.
Borrowed from relatives
- Much of the body can be restored from its own bones, with Dryosaurus providing a close comparison for missing details.
Still unknown
- Whether all the animals in its great bone accumulation died in a single disaster.
- Its skin color and markings.
- Whether it cared for its young.
Discovery timeline
- 1919Named itVirchow
- 2009Its worldBussert, Heinrich & Aberhan
- 2010SkullHÜBNER & RAUHUT
- 2012Growing upHübner
- 2021Fossil sitesHübner et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Dysalotosaurus
Named it
Named Dysalotosaurus from dinosaur bones recovered in what is now Tanzania.
Atlas und Epistropheus bei den Schildkröten [Atlas and axis in the turtles]. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 1919: 303-332
No link available
Its world
Traced changing seas and coastal plains through the dinosaur-bearing rocks of the Tendaguru Formation.
The Tendaguru Formation (Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, southern Tanzania): definition, palaeoenvironments, and sequence stratigraphy. Fossil Record 12: 141-174
Read the paper : The Tendaguru Formation (Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, southern Tanzania): definition, palaeoenvironments, and sequence stratigraphy (opens in a new tab)Skull
Reconstructed a young skull and showed how the snout, eye sockets and skull roof changed during growth.
A juvenile skull of Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki (Ornithischia: Iguanodontia), and implications for cranial ontogeny, phylogeny, and taxonomy in ornithopod dinosaurs. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 160: 366-396
Read the paper : A juvenile skull of Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki (Ornithischia: Iguanodontia), and implications for cranial ontogeny, phylogeny, and taxonomy in ornithopod dinosaurs (opens in a new tab)Growing up
Studied bone sections across growth stages and found that different bones grew at different rates.
Bone Histology in Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki (Ornithischia: Iguanodontia) – Variation, Growth, and Implications. PLoS ONE 7: e29958
Read the paper : Bone Histology in Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki (Ornithischia: Iguanodontia) – Variation, Growth, and Implications (opens in a new tab)Fossil sites
Reexamined the great bone accumulation and its age groups, leaving open whether a disaster or repeated deaths formed the deposit.
Research history, taphonomy, and age structure of a mass accumulation of the ornithopod dinosaur Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki from the Upper Jurassic of Tanzania. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 66
Read the paper : Research history, taphonomy, and age structure of a mass accumulation of the ornithopod dinosaur Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki from the Upper Jurassic of Tanzania (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Dryosauridae
Sources: Wikidata