Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Kwanasaurus
"eagle lizard"
- Lived
- 227 to 201 million years ago, Late Triassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians, Silesauridae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Martz and Small 2019
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
210 million years ago
Field notes
About Kwanasaurus
What it was like
Kwanasaurus was a silesaur, a slender, four-legged plant eater from a group close to the first dinosaurs. It had a deep, strong skull and teeth suited to chewing plants.
Some scientists think silesaurs were early relatives of the ornithischian dinosaurs; others think they sat just outside the dinosaurs.
Its world
It lived in the Late Triassic in what is now Colorado, in the United States. Its bones come from the Chinle Formation, where it shared the land with the early meat eaters Coelophysis and Chindesaurus.
How it was found
Martz and Small named Kwanasaurus in 2019. Six finds are known.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Silesauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: J. W. Martz and B. J. Small. 2019. Non-dinosaurian dinosauromorphs from the Chinle Formation (Upper Triassic) of the Eagle Basin, northern Colorado: Dromomeron romeri (Lagerpetidae) and a new taxon, Kwanasaurus williamparkeri (Silesauridae). PeerJ 7:e7551:1-71