Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Fruitadens
"Fruita teeth"
- Lived
- 149 to 143 million years ago, Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians, Heterodontosauridae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Butler et al. 2010
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
145 million years ago
Field notes
About Fruitadens
What it was like
Fruitadens was one of the smallest bird-hipped dinosaurs, a two-legged runner smaller than a house cat when grown. It belonged to the heterodontosaurids, which had teeth of different shapes, including small fangs at the front. It probably ate plants, insects and other small food.
Its world
It lived in the Late Jurassic in what is now Colorado. Its bones come from the Morrison Formation, where it lived in the shadow of giants such as Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus and the predator Allosaurus.
How it was found
Butler and colleagues named it in 2010 from bones of several individuals. Its name refers to the town near where it was found.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Heterodontosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: R. J. Butler, P. M. Galton, and L. B. Porro, L. M. Chiappe, D. M. Henderson, G. M. Erickson. 2010. A new Upper Jurassic heterodontosaurid from North America: lower limits of ornithischian dinosaur body size inferred from North America. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277:375-381