Open Paleo

Doolysaurus

Jung et al., 2026 DOO-lee-SOR-us

Combines a reference to 'Dooly the Little Dinosaur', a Korean cartoon character, with Ancient Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'; the specific name huhmini honors paleontologist Min Huh, founder of the Korean Dinosaur Research Center.

113.2–93.9 million years ago Albian–Cenomanian, Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous stages

Doolysaurus is an extinct genus of thescelosaurid ornithischian dinosaur known from the Cretaceous (Albian-lower Cenomanian) Ilseongsan Formation of South Korea. The genus contains a single species, Doolysaurus huhmini, known from the partial skeleton of a small juvenile individual. It is the first named South Korean dinosaur with diagnostic cranial material, providing important insight into the early evolution of thescelosaurid ornithischians in East Asia, and the second named basal neornithischian from South Korea after Koreanosaurus.

Under dispute

Doolysaurus is recovered within Thescelosaurinae, as sister to a clade of Parksosaurus, Fona, and Thescelosaurus, in the primary (Bayesian and majority-rule) analyses of Jung and colleagues (2026). A sensitivity analysis using the Avrahami and colleagues (2024) matrix instead recovered it as a basal orodromine.

Diagnosis

  1. Lateromedial widths of the crista tibiofibularis and the medial condyle of the distal femur are roughly equal near the base (ch.833:0)

Species

Doolysaurus huhmini Jung et al., 2026

Type species

Named for paleontologist Min Huh, founder of the Korean Dinosaur Research Center and contributor to dinosaur research in Korea.

Holotype
KDRC-SA-V001 , Korea Dinosaur Research Center, Chonnam National University
Material
Incomplete skeleton of juvenile individual including skull remains, vertebral column, forelimb, hindlimb
Horizon
Ilseongsan Formation, Albian–Cenomanian, Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous , 113.2–93.9 million years ago
Locality
southeastern coast of Aphae Island (Aphaedo), South Jeolla, South Korea

References

  1. Jung, J.; Kim, M.; Jo, H.; Clarke, J. A. (2026). A new dinosaur species from Korea and its implications for early-diverging neornithischian diversity. Fossil Record 29(1): 87-113. Pensoft Publishers. doi:10.3897/fr.29.178152 jung2026a
  2. Avrahami, H. M.; Makovicky, P. J.; Tucker, R. T.; Zanno, L. E. (2024). A new semi-fossorial thescelosaurine dinosaur from the Cenomanian-age Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah. The Anatomical Record 307(12): 3717-3781. Wiley. doi:10.1002/ar.25505

    Sensitivity analysis with this thescelosaurine matrix recovered Doolysaurus as a basal orodromine.

    avrahami2024a