Open Paleo

Rhinorex

Gates & Scheetz, 2014 ri-no-rex

From Greek rhinos ('nose') and Latin rex ('king')

83.6–72.2 million years ago Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Rhinorex is a genus of kritosaurin hadrosaur from the Late Cretaceous Neslen Formation, in central Utah. Its exact placement in time is uncertain, though it probably dates to 75 million years ago and was discovered in estuarine sediments.

Diagnosis

  1. Anteroventral process of nasal with fish-hook morphology: wide, triangular, with small dorsally-directed bump
  2. Posteroventral process of premaxilla with slight dorsal expansion on medial margin at midpoint
  3. Large rugose boss on posterodorsal corner of circumnarial fossa
  4. Jugal with postorbital process oriented perpendicular to main jugal body
  5. Nasal lacking solid raised crest on posterior region, instead breaking nearly horizontally

Species

Rhinorex condrupus Gates & Scheetz, 2014

Type species

From Latin condo ('bury') and rupes ('cliffs'), referring to discovery in the Book Cliffs of Utah

Holotype
BYU 13258 , Earth Sciences Museum, Brigham Young University
Material
Partial but mostly articulated skeleton and skull with partial pelvis and vertebral column.
Horizon
Neslen Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
Thompson Canyon, Utah, United States

References

  1. Gates, T. A.; Scheetz, R. (2014). A new saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Campanian of Utah, North America. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 13(8): 711-725. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2014.950614

    Recovers Rhinorex as the sister of Gryposaurus in parsimony and Bayesian analyses, and places the holotype in estuarine sediments on the margin of the Western Interior Seaway.

    gates2014a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026a