Eolambia
"dawn lambeosaur"
- Lived
- 101 to 94 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 6 m (20 ft)
- Group
- Ornithopods
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Kirkland 1998
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical ornithopod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
95 million years ago
Habitat
River floodplains in Utah, where floods sometimes buried bones in sand and mud. Other animals from the same formation include Siats and Peloroplites.
Field notes
About Eolambia
What it was like
Eolambia was a plant eater about 6 meters (20 feet) long, an early relative of the duck-billed dinosaurs. It had a beak and rows of grinding teeth, and it could walk on two or four legs.
It was first thought to be an early crested hadrosaur, which is where its name comes from, but later studies place it just outside the hadrosaur family.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Utah, in the United States. Its bones come from the Cedar Mountain Formation.
How it was found
Kirkland named Eolambia in 1998. It is known from 12 finds, including young and adult animals.
Field gallery
More views of Eolambia
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 Eolambia.
The evidence
The science behind Eolambia
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Adult skulls and many young skeletons preserve almost the whole skeleton between them.
- The skull has a broad, toothless beak and rows of closely packed grinding teeth.
- A large partial skeleton preserves the hips and backbone, with growth marks inside a rib.
Borrowed from relatives
- Most of its skeleton is known from its own bones.
- Missing bones around the front of the eye can be restored by comparison with Probactrosaurus and other early duckbill relatives.
Still unknown
- Its skin pattern and color.
- The precise shape of the missing bones in front of the eye.
- Whether it cared for its young.
Discovery timeline
- 1998Named itKirkland
- 2012Full descriptionMcDonald et al.
- 2017New findMcDonald et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Eolambia
Named it
Named Eolambia from adult and juvenile remains in Utah and initially placed it among the crested duck-billed dinosaurs.
A new hadrosaurid from the upper Cedar Mountain Formation (Albian-Cenomanian: Cretaceous) of eastern Utah - the oldest known hadrosaurid (lambeosaurine?). Lower and Middle Cretaceous Terrestrial Ecosystems, S. G. Lucas, J. I. Kirkland & J. W. Estep (eds.). New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 14: 283-295
No link available
Full description
Described almost the entire skeleton from adult and juvenile bones, placing Eolambia among early relatives of the duck-billed dinosaurs.
Osteology of the Basal Hadrosauroid Eolambia caroljonesa (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah. PLoS ONE 7: e45712
Read the paper : Osteology of the Basal Hadrosauroid Eolambia caroljonesa (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah (opens in a new tab)New find
Described a large partial skeleton buried by a flood; rib growth marks showed that the animal was still growing.
Anatomy, taphonomy, and phylogenetic implications of a new specimen of Eolambia caroljonesa (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, USA. PLOS ONE 12: e0176896
Read the paper : Anatomy, taphonomy, and phylogenetic implications of a new specimen of Eolambia caroljonesa (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, USA (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Hadrosauroidea
Sources: Wikidata