Outline: a typical ornithopod
Morrosaurus
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ornithopods
- Found in
- Antarctica
- Named by
- Rozadilla et al. 2016
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Field notes
About Morrosaurus
What it was like
Morrosaurus was a small, two-legged plant eater from a group of southern ornithopods called elasmarians. It is known only from a hind leg, which shows it was probably a quick runner.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous, in Antarctica. The land was forested and much warmer than today. Its bones come from the Snow Hill Island Formation, and other dinosaurs from the region include the plant eater Trinisaura, the armored Antarctopelta and the hunter Imperobator.
How it was found
Rozadilla and colleagues named it in 2016 from one find. The type species is Morrosaurus antarcticus.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Elasmaria
Sources: WikidataNamed in: S. Rozadilla, F. L. Agnolin, and F. E. Novas, A. M. Aranciaga Rolando, M. J. Motta, J. M. Lirio, M. P. Isasi. 2016. A new ornithopod (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Antarctica and its palaeobiogeographical implications. Cretaceous Research 57:311-324