Outline: a typical ornithopod
Protohadros
"first hadrosaur"
Type species Protohadros byrdi
- Lived
- 101 to 94 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 6 m (20 ft)
- Group
- Ornithopods
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Head 1998
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical ornithopod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
95 million years ago
Field notes
About Protohadros
What it was like
Protohadros was a plant eater about 6 meters (20 feet) long, an early relative of the duck-billed dinosaurs. Its lower jaw curved down sharply at the front, which may mean it fed on plants close to the ground.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Texas, in the United States. Its bones come from the Lewisville Formation, rocks laid down near the coast.
How it was found
Head named Protohadros in 1998. Three finds are known. Despite its name, later studies found it was not the first hadrosaur, but a relative just outside the family.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Hadrosauroidea
Sources: WikidataNamed in: J. J. Head. 1998. A new species of basal hadrosaurid (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Cenomanian of Texas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18(4):718-738