Mantellisaurus
man-TEL-ih-SORE-us
"Mantell's lizard"
Type species Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis
- Lived
- 143 to 120 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ornithopods
- Found in
- United Kingdom and Spain
- Named by
- Paul 2007
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
130 million years ago
Also reported from Belgium, France, Portugal and Romania.
Habitat
Its Wessex Formation world included rivers, floodplains and lakes, with conifers, ferns and cycads. Iguanodon, Polacanthus and Neovenator are other dinosaurs from these rocks.
Field notes
About Mantellisaurus
What it was like
Mantellisaurus was a large plant eater, a lighter and more slender cousin of Iguanodon. It had a toothless beak at the front of its jaws and rows of grinding teeth behind, and it could walk on all fours or on its hind legs.
Like Iguanodon, it had a spike on each thumb. Its arms were short compared with its legs, so it probably spent more time on two legs than its heavier relative.
Its world
It lived about 143 to 120 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous, in what is now England and Spain, with more finds reported from Belgium, France, Portugal and Romania. In England it shared the land with Iguanodon, the fish-eating Baryonyx, the armored Polacanthus and the hunters Neovenator and Eotyrannus.
How it was found
Its skeletons were first called a species of Iguanodon. Paul gave them their own genus in 2007, naming it after the pioneer who first described Iguanodon. Several nearly complete skeletons are known.
Field gallery
More views of Mantellisaurus
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 Mantellisaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Mantellisaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The British type specimen preserves about half of the skull bones and much of the skeleton behind it, including the neck, trunk, hips, arms, hands and legs.
- Nearly complete skeletons from Belgium assigned to Mantellisaurus show a lightly built plant eater with arms much shorter than its hind legs. Their jaws have a toothless front beak and rows of teeth behind it.
- The type specimen has a ridge on the front upper-jaw bone. Distinctive upper-jaw and shoulder-blade shapes separate it from Iguanodon.
Borrowed from relatives
- The type lacks the skull roof, the second hand bone and most of the tail; these are compared with Comptonatus and Iguanodon.
Still unknown
- Its color and skin pattern.
- Exactly which plants it ate.
- How often it walked on its hind legs rather than all fours.
Discovery timeline
- 2007Named itPaul
- 2008Family treePaul
- 2023Full descriptionBonsor et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Mantellisaurus
Named it
Gave the slender animal formerly called Iguanodon atherfieldensis its own genus, Mantellisaurus.
Turning the old into the new: a separate genus for the gracile iguanodont from the Wealden of England. Horns and Beaks: Ceratopsian and Ornithopod Dinosaurs.
No link available
Family tree
Compared iguanodont skeletons and argued that Mantellisaurus differed enough from Iguanodon to belong in a separate genus.
A revised taxonomy of the iguanodont dinosaur genera and species. Cretaceous Research 29: 192-216
Read the paper : A revised taxonomy of the iguanodont dinosaur genera and species (opens in a new tab)Full description
Restudied the original skeleton, confirmed its separation from Iguanodon and placed it on an early branch of the duckbill line.
THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE HOLOTYPE OF THE BRITISH IGUANODONTIAN DINOSAURMANTELLISAURUS ATHERFIELDENSIS. Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society 177: 1-63
Read the paper : THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE HOLOTYPE OF THE BRITISH IGUANODONTIAN DINOSAURMANTELLISAURUS ATHERFIELDENSIS (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Iguanodontia
Sources: Wikidata