Genus
Valid Extinct

Kryptops

Sereno and Brusatte 2008
Etymology Visage couvert, du Grec ''krypto'', couvert et ''ops'' , visage, en référence à la surface du maxillaire couverte de petits trous et d’empreintes de vaisseaux sanguins, indiquant que du vivant de l’animal, l’os était recouvert par des tissus mous fortement kératinisés.

Kryptops is an extinct genus of possibly chimeric abelisaurid theropod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of Niger. It is known from a partial maxilla found at the Gadoufaoua locality in the western Ténéré Desert, in rocks of the Aptian–Albian-age Elrhaz Formation. The fossils were collected in 2000 by a University of Chicago expedition to Niger led by American paleontologist Paul Sereno. They were then described in 2008 by Sereno and Steve Brusatte. The genus contains a single species, Kryptops palaios. Sereno and Brusatte referred several postcranial remains to Kryptops, but later studies have shown that these elements belong to an allosauroid theropod, leaving Kryptops to be only known from the incomplete maxilla.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
1
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Kryptops
click to enlarge
Abelisaurid theropod Kryptops palaios gen. et sp. nov. MNN GAD1−1 from the Lower Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation of Niger. Left maxilla in lateral view; stereopair (A) and line drawing (B). Cross−hatching indicates broken bone; dashed lines indicate estimated edges. © Paul C. Sereno and Stephen L. Brusatte · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
Averostra Unranked clade
Ceratosauria Suborder
Abelisauridae Family
Kryptops Genus
Fossil sites 1 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇳🇪 Niger
1
Geological formations
Elrhaz
1
Temporal distribution
Albian (113.2–100.5 Ma)
1
Species (1)
Kryptops palaios 121 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
P. C. Sereno and S. L. Brusatte. 2008. Basal abelisaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods from the Lower Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation of Niger. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53(1):15-46 DOI ↗
Bibliography (1)
P. C. Sereno and S. L. Brusatte. 2008. Basal abelisaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods from the Lower Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation of Niger. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53(1):15-46 DOI ↗