| Abrictosaurus Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Specimen NHMUK RU B54 | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Family: | †Heterodontosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Heterodontosaurinae |
| Genus: | †Abrictosaurus Hopson, 1975 |
| Species | |
| |
Abrictosaurus (/əˌbrɪktəˈsɔːrəs/; "wakeful lizard") is a genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic in what is now in parts of southern Africa such as Lesotho and South Africa. It was a bipedal herbivore or omnivore and was one of the most basal heterodontosaurids. It was approximately 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) long and weighed between 0.68 and 3 kilograms (1.5 and 6.6 lb).[1]
This dinosaur is known from the fossil remains of only two individuals, found in the Upper Elliot Formation of Qacha's Nek District in Lesotho and Cape Province in South Africa. The Upper Elliot is thought to date from the Hettangian and Sinemurian stages of the Early Jurassic Period, approximately 200 to 190 million years ago.[2] This formation is thought to preserve sand dunes as well as seasonal floodplains, in a semiarid environment with sporadic rainfall. Other dinosaurs found in this formation include the theropod Megapnosaurus, the sauropodomorph Massospondylus, as well as other heterodontosaurids like Heterodontosaurus and Lycorhinus. Remains of terrestrial crocodylomorphs, cynodonts and early mammals are also abundant.[3]
- ^ Benson, Robert B. J.; Hunt, Gene; Carrano, Matthew T.; Campione, Nicolás (21 October 2017). "Cope's rule and the adaptive landscape of dinosaur body size evolution". Palaeontology. 61 (1): 13–48. Bibcode:2018Palgy..61...13B. doi:10.1111/pala.12329.
- ^ Norman, D.B.; Sues, H-D.; Witmer, L.M.; Coria, R.A. (2004). "Basal Ornithopoda". In Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H.; Weishampel, W.B. (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley, California: University of California Press. pp. 393–412. ISBN 9780520941434. OCLC 801843269.
- ^ Weishampel, D.B.; Witmer, L.M. (1990). "Heterodontosauridae". In Osmólska, H.; Dodson, P.; Weishampel, W.B. (eds.). The Dinosauria. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 486–497. ISBN 9780520067264. OCLC 20670312.