Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Silesaurus
"Silesia lizard"
- Lived
- 237 to 206 million years ago, Late Triassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians, Silesauridae
- Found in
- Poland
- Named by
- Dzik 2003
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
220 million years ago
Field notes
About Silesaurus
What it was like
Silesaurus was a slender four-legged animal about the size of a large dog, with long thin legs and a small head. Its jaws ended in a toothless tip that may have held a beak, and it probably ate plants or insects.
Its world
It lived in the Late Triassic, in what is now Poland. Many bones were found together in the Drawno Beds, so it may have been common.
How it was found
Dzik named Silesaurus in 2003. It belongs to the silesaurids, and scientists still argue about where they fit: they may be close cousins of the dinosaurs, or the earliest ornithischians.
Close relatives
Other members of Silesauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: J. Dzik. 2003. A beaked herbivorous archosaur with dinosaur affinities from the early Late Triassic of Poland. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3):556-574