Gryposaurus
GRIP-oh-SORE-us
"hooked-nose 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
- Lambe 1914
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical ornithopod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Habitat
Rivers crossed floodplains in the region recorded by the Dinosaur Park Formation. Corythosaurus, Parasaurolophus and Daspletosaurus also lived there.
Field notes
About Gryposaurus
What it was like
Gryposaurus was a large duck-billed plant eater, up to about 10 meters (33 feet) long. Its most obvious feature was a tall bony arch on its snout, giving it a hooked nose. It may have used this bump for display. Rows of teeth in its jaws ground tough plants.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Alberta, Montana and Utah. Its bones come from the Dinosaur Park, Two Medicine and Kaiparowits formations. In Alberta it lived alongside the crested duckbills Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus and the tyrannosaur Daspletosaurus.
How it was found
Lambe named Gryposaurus in 1914. There are 16 recorded finds, and several species have been named from different regions.
Field gallery
More views of Gryposaurus
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 Gryposaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Gryposaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Skulls show a deep face and a raised bony arch on the snout.
- The species monumentensis had especially sturdy jaws and large prongs along the bone supporting its lower beak.
- Young skulls show that the nasal arch grew taller in proportion to the rest of the head.
Borrowed from relatives
- Much of the body is known from its own skeletons, including a mostly complete young animal.
Still unknown
- What the nasal arch was used for.
- Its color.
- Which plants each species preferred to eat.
Discovery timeline
- 1914Named itLambe
- 2007New findGATES & SAMPSON
- 2010SkullPrieto-Marquez
- 2022Growing upMallon et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Gryposaurus
Named it
Named Gryposaurus from an Alberta skull with a prominent bony arch on its snout.
On Gryposaurus notabilis, a new genus and species of trachodont dinosaur from the Belly River Formation of Alberta, with a description of the skull of Chasmosaurus belli. The Ottawa Naturalist 27: 145-155
No link available
New find
Named Gryposaurus monumentensis, whose unusually sturdy skull and jaws may have helped it handle tougher food.
A new species of Gryposaurus (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae) from the late Campanian Kaiparowits Formation, southern Utah, USA. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 151: 351-376
Read the paper : A new species of Gryposaurus (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae) from the late Campanian Kaiparowits Formation, southern Utah, USA (opens in a new tab)Skull
Described the braincase and showed that some supposed species differences instead reflect growth and variation within Gryposaurus notabilis.
The braincase and skull roof ofGryposaurus notabilis(Dinosauria, Hadrosauridae), with a taxonomic revision of the genus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30: 838-854
Read the paper : The braincase and skull roof ofGryposaurus notabilis(Dinosauria, Hadrosauridae), with a taxonomic revision of the genus (opens in a new tab)Growing up
Described small young specimens and found that the nasal arch grew proportionally taller while extra tooth ridges disappeared.
Rare juvenile material constrains estimation of skeletal allometry in Gryposaurus notabilis (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae). The Anatomical Record 306: 1646-1668
Read the paper : Rare juvenile material constrains estimation of skeletal allometry in Gryposaurus notabilis (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae) (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Hadrosauridae
Sources: Wikidata