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Heterodontosaurus, Early JurassicElliot Formation, South Africa · named 1962
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Heterodontosaurus

het-er-oh-DON-toh-SORE-us

"different-toothed lizard"

Lived
201 to 193 million years ago, Early Jurassic
Diet
Herbivore
Length
about 1.2 m (4 ft)
Group
Early ornithischians, Heterodontosauridae
Found in
South Africa
Named by
Crompton and Charig 1962

Size comparison

To scale

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

5 finds

195 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

It lived on river plains in southern Africa that were dry for part of the year. Conifers and ferns probably grew there, alongside Massospondylus, Lesothosaurus and Dracovenator.

Field notes

About Heterodontosaurus

What it was like

Heterodontosaurus was a small plant eater with an unusual set of teeth, giving the whole family its name. At the front of its upper jaw sat small, incisor-like teeth, followed by a pair of long, canine-like tusks, then a gap before rows of chisel-shaped cheek teeth farther back. It grew to about 1.2 meters (4 feet) long, walked on two legs, and had slender hands with five fingers each. Despite the tusks, it was most likely a plant eater, or perhaps an occasional omnivore.

Its world

Heterodontosaurus lived in what is now South Africa during the Early Jurassic, about 193 million years ago. Its bones, five finds in all, come from the Elliot and Clarens formations. It shared its world with the long-necked Massospondylus, the early theropod Dracovenator, and its own smaller relative Lesothosaurus.

How it was found

Crompton and Charig named Heterodontosaurus in 1962. It is the namesake of Heterodontosauridae, a family of early ornithischians that also includes Pegomastax, Abrictosaurus, and Fruitadens. Several other heterodontosaurids are known from the same rock layers as Heterodontosaurus, making the group unusually well documented for such early dinosaurs.

Field gallery

More views of Heterodontosaurus

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Heterodontosaurus in its habitat, photo 1

1 of 7

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 Heterodontosaurus.

The evidence

The science behind Heterodontosaurus

Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.

From its own fossils

  • Skulls show a beak, tusk-like teeth and tightly packed cheek teeth with worn cutting surfaces.
  • An almost complete skeleton shows long hindlegs, a balancing tail and grasping hands with curved claws.
  • A young skull already carries the distinctive tusk-like teeth.

Borrowed from relatives

  • Almost the whole skeleton is known from its own bones.
  • A covering of fine filaments is a possibility suggested by its relative Tianyulong, which preserves long, simple filaments.

Still unknown

  • Whether its skin carried filaments.
  • Its color and the plants it preferred to eat.
  • The body proportions of its youngest animals.

Often drawn wrong

  • Young animals should keep their tusk-like teeth, rather than being given toothless jaws.
  • It walked on its hindlegs, with the tail held above the ground.

Discovery timeline

  1. 1962Named itCROMPTON & CHARIG
  2. 2008Growing upButler, Porro & Norman
  3. 2009Close relativeZheng et al.
  4. 2011SkullNORMAN et al.
  5. 2012How it fedSereno

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Heterodontosaurus

Close relatives

Other members of Heterodontosauridae

Sources: Wikidata