Kerberosaurus
"Kerberos lizard"
Type species Kerberosaurus manakini
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ornithopods, Hadrosauridae
- Found in
- Russia
- Named by
- Bolotsky and Godefroit 2004
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Habitat
It lived in a basin in what is now far eastern Russia. Other plant eaters in the region included Amurosaurus and Olorotitan.
Field notes
About Kerberosaurus
What it was like
Kerberosaurus was a duck-billed plant eater with a flat head and no crest. It was related to Saurolophus and Prosaurolophus. It is known from pieces of the skull found in a bonebed.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, at the very end of the Late Cretaceous, in what is now far eastern Russia. Its bones come from the Udurchukan Formation, where it lived alongside the crested duckbills Olorotitan and Amurosaurus.
How it was found
Bolotsky and Godefroit named it in 2004. The type species is Kerberosaurus manakini. Its name comes from the three-headed dog of Greek myth.
Field gallery
More views of Kerberosaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 2
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 Kerberosaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Kerberosaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Separate skull bones include parts of the upper jaw, nose and skull roof.
- The upper jaw has a distinctive hook-shaped projection.
- The original description called the forehead bones unusually narrow. A later study attributed that shape to damage in a probable juvenile.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing body is restored using better-known duckbills such as Edmontosaurus, with strong hind legs and a long tail.
Still unknown
- Its exact body size and proportions.
- Its skin color and markings.
Discovery timeline
- 2004Named itBolotsky & Godefroit
- 2010Family treePRIETO-MÁRQUEZ
- 2012Family treeGodefroit, Bolotsky & Lauters
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Kerberosaurus
Named it
Named a new duckbill from separate skull bones and compared its family ties with Saurolophus and Prosaurolophus.
A new hadrosaurine dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Far Eastern Russia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24: 351-365
Read the paper : A new hadrosaurine dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Far Eastern Russia (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Compared skull and body features across the duckbill family and tested how its main branches were related.
Global phylogeny of Hadrosauridae (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) using parsimony and Bayesian methods. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 159: 435-502
Read the paper : Global phylogeny of Hadrosauridae (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) using parsimony and Bayesian methods (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Compared Kerberosaurus with a newly named duckbill and placed both among relatives of Edmontosaurus.
A New Saurolophine Dinosaur from the Latest Cretaceous of Far Eastern Russia. PLoS ONE 7: e36849
Read the paper : A New Saurolophine Dinosaur from the Latest Cretaceous of Far Eastern Russia (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Hadrosauridae
Sources: Wikidata