Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Lycorhinus
"wolf snout"
Type species Abrictosaurus consors
- 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
- Haughton 1924
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical early ornithischian shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
195 million years ago
Field notes
About Lycorhinus
What it was like
Lycorhinus was a small heterodontosaur about 1.2 meters (4 feet) long. Its jaws held different kinds of teeth, including a long, fang-like tooth near the front, like a canine.
It probably ate mostly plants, and the fangs may have been for display or defense.
Its world
It lived in the Early Jurassic in what is now South Africa. Its bones come from the Elliot Formation, where it shared the land with Heterodontosaurus, Lesothosaurus, the plant eater Massospondylus and the hunter Dracovenator.
How it was found
Haughton named Lycorhinus in 1924. He first thought its jaw came from a mammal-like reptile, because of its fang.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Heterodontosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: S. H. Haughton. 1924. The fauna and stratigraphy of the Stormberg Series. Annals of the South African Museum 12:323-497