Genus

Valid Extinct

Thescelosaurus

Gilmore 1913

Etymology Reptile merveilleux

Thescelosaurus is a genus of ornithischian dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in western North America. It was named and described in 1913 by the paleontologist Charles W. Gilmore; the type species is T. neglectus. Two other species, T. garbanii and T. assiniboiensis, were named in 1976 and 2011, respectively. Additional species have been suggested but are currently not accepted. Thescelosaurus is the eponymous member of its family, the Thescelosauridae. Thescelosaurids are either considered to be basal ("primitive") ornithopods, or are placed outside of this group within the broader group Neornithischia.

Temporal range

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

Paleogene

Neogene

252 201 145 66 0 Ma

PBDB occurrences

Group

Dinosaures

Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial

click to enlarge

A Thescelosaurus at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Illinois, USA. Size:12 feet in length, 3 ft tall at the hip Weight: 670 lbs when alive. © Ben Jacobson (Kranar Drogin) · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia

PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗

Classification

Dinosauria Unranked clade

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Ornithischia Unranked clade

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Neornithischia Unranked clade

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Thescelosauridae Family

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Thescelosaurinae Subfamily

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Thescelosaurus Genus

Measurements

Length

2,5 m ⓘ

Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis — min connu

4,5 m ⓘ

Thescelosaurus garbanii — max connu

3,5 m ⓘ

Mass

50 kg ⓘ

Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis — min connu

300 kg ⓘ

Thescelosaurus garbanii — max connu

Fossil sites 55 geolocated sites

Distribution

Top countries

🇺🇸 United States

🇨🇦 Canada

Geological formations

Hell Creek

Lance

Oldman

Dinosaur Park

Scollard

Frenchman

Straight Cliffs

Fruitland

Laramie

Temporal distribution

Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)

Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)

Turonian (93.9–89.8 Ma)

Species (5)

Bugenasaura infernalis nomen dubium, species not entered Thescelosaurus

Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis 72 Ma

Thescelosaurus edmontonensis 72 Ma

Thescelosaurus garbanii 72 Ma

Thescelosaurus neglectus 84 Ma

Synonyms (2)

Bugenasaura subjective synonym of Thescelosaurus

Bugenasaura infernalis nomen dubium, species not entered Thescelosaurus

Images 13

Bibliography

Original description

C. W. Gilmore. 1913. A new dinosaur from the Lance Formation of Wyoming. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Publications 61(5):1-5

Bibliography (30)

W. W. Stein. 2021. The paleontology, geology and taphonomy of the Tooth Draw Deposit; Hell Creek Formation (Maastrictian), Butte County, South Dakota. The Journal of Paleontological Sciences JPS.C.21:0001:1-108

K. Snyder, M. McLain, and J. Wood, A. V. Chadwick. 2020. Over 13,000 elements from a single bonebed help elucidate disarticulation and transport of an Edmontosaurus thanatocoenosis. PLoS One 15(5):e0233182:1-31 DOI ↗

Y. Rollot, T. R. Lyson, and W. G. Joyce. 2018. A Description of the Skull of Eubaena cephalica (Hay, 1904) and New Insights into the Cranial Circulation and Innervation of Baenid Turtles. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology e1474886:1-11 DOI ↗

W. G. Joyce, T. R. Lyson, and S. Williams. 2016. New cranial material of Gilmoremys lancensis (Testudines, Trionychidae) from the Hell Creek Formation of southeastern Montana, U.S.A. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36(6):e1225748:1-10 DOI ↗

D. C. Evans, P. M. Barrett, and K. L. Seymour. 2012. Revised identification of a reported Iguanodon-grade ornithopod tooth from the Scollard Formation, Alberta, Canada. Cretaceous Research 33(1):11-14 DOI ↗

C. M. Brown, C. A. Boyd, and A. P. Russell. 2011. A new basal ornithopod dinosaur (Frenchman Formation, Saskatchewan, Canada), and implications for late Maastrichtian ornithischian diversity in North America. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163(4):1157-1198 DOI ↗

C. A. Boyd, C. M. Brown, and R. D. Scheetz, J. A. Clarke. 2009. Taxonomic revision of the basal neornithischian taxa Thescelosaurus and Bugenasaura. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(3):758-770 DOI ↗

L. E. Wilson. 2008. Comparative taphonomy and paleoecological reconstruction of two microvertebrate accumulations from the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation (Maastrichtian), eastern Montana. Palaios 23:289-297 DOI ↗

M. T. Carrano. 2005. Fossil Vertebrate Collections, University of California Museum of Paleontology

D. A. Pearson, T. Schaefer, and K. R. Johnson, D. J. Nichols, J. P. Hunter. 2002. Vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Hell Creek Formation in southwestern North Dakota and northwestern South Dakota. The Hell Creek Formation and the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in the Northern Great Plains: An Integrated Continental Record of the End of the Cretaceous, Geological Society of America Special Paper 361:145-167 DOI ↗

P. E. Fisher, D. A. Russell, and M. K. Stoskopf, R. E. Barrick, M. Hammer, A. A. Kuzmitz. 2000. Cardiovascular evidence for an intermediate or higher metabolism in an ornithischian dinosaur. Science 288:503-505 DOI ↗

J. M. Parrish. 1999. Dinosaur teeth from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian–Judithian) of southern Utah. Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah, Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 99-1:319-321

D. B. Brinkman. 1990. Paleontology of the Judith River Formation (Campanian) of Dinosaur National Park, Alberta, Canada: evidence from vertebrate microfossil locality. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 78:37-54

D. A. Eberth, D. B. Brinkman, and P. A. Johnston. 1988. Bonebed 31. In D. A. Eberth (ed.), Palaeoecology of Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 48th Annual Meeting, Field Trip "B" (October 12, 1988). Occasional Paper of theTyrrell Museum of Palaeontology 7:23-26

J. L. Whitmore and J. E. Martin. 1986. Vertebrate fossils from the Greasewood Creek locality in the Late Cretaceous Lance Formation of Niobrara County, Wyoming. Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Sciences 65:33-50

P. R. Bjork. 1985. Preliminary report on the Ruby Site bone bed, Upper Cretaceous South Dakota. Geological Society of America, Rocky Mountain Section, Abstracts with Programs 17(4):209

P. J. Hutchinson and B. S. Kues. 1985. Depositional environments and paleontology of Lewis Shale to lower Kirtland Shale sequence (Upper Cretaceous), Bisti area, northwestern New Mexico. New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources Circular 195:24-54

K. Carpenter. 1982. Baby dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Lance and Hell Creek formations and a description of a new species of theropod. Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming 20(2):123-134

J. S. McIntosh. 1981. Annotated catalogue of the dinosaurs (Reptilia, Archosauria) in the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History 18:1-67 DOI ↗

C. Lupton, D. Gabriel, and R. M. West. 1980. Paleobiology and depositional setting of a Late Cretaceous vertebrate locality, Hell Creek Formation, McCone County, Montana. Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming 18(2):117-126

K. Carpenter. 1979. Vertebrate fauna of the Laramie Formation (Maestrichtian), Weld County, Colorado. Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming 17(1):37-49

W. J. Morris. 1976. Hypsilophodont dinosaurs: a new species and comments on their systematics. in Churcher, C.S. (ed.), Athlon: Essays in Honor of Loris Shano Russell. Royal Ontario Museum Special Publication

P. M. Galton. 1974. Notes on Thescelosaurus, a conservative ornithopod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of North America, with comments on ornithopod classification. Journal of Paleontology 48(5):1048-1067

M. T. Greenwald. 1971. The Lower Vertebrates of the Hell Creek Formation, Harding County, South Dakota.

C. M. Sternberg. 1940. Thescelosaurus edmontonensis, n. sp., and classification of the Hypsilophodontidae. Journal of Paleontology 14(5):481-494

C. W. Gilmore. 1928. Fossil lizards of North America. Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 22(3):1-201

C. M. Sternberg. 1926. Notes on the Edmonton Formation of Alberta. Canadian Field-Naturalist 40:102-104 DOI ↗

C. M. Sternberg. 1924. Report on a collection of vertebrates from Wood Mountain, southern Saskatchewan, collected by C. M. Sternberg, 1921. Canada Department of Mines Geological Survey Bulletin (Geological Series) 38(43):27-28

C. W. Gilmore. 1915. Osteology of Thescelosaurus, an orthopodous dinosaur from the Lance Formation of Wyoming. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 49(2127):591-616 DOI ↗

C. W. Gilmore. 1913. A new dinosaur from the Lance Formation of Wyoming. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Publications 61(5):1-5

Thescelosaurus

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