Open Paleo

Theiophytalia

Brill & Carpenter, 2007 thee-oy-fy-tal-ee-uh

From Greek 'theios' meaning 'divine' or 'of the gods' and 'phytalion' meaning 'garden', in reference to the Garden of the Gods park in Colorado where the specimen was found.

121.4–100.5 million years ago Aptian–Albian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Theiophytalia is a genus of herbivorous iguanodontian dinosaur from the lower Cretaceous period (Aptian-Albian stage, about 112 million years ago) of Colorado, USA. It contains a single species, T. kerri.

Diagnosis

  1. Anterior edge of snout very rugose
  2. Short tomial edge of premaxillary beak lower than alveolar surface of maxilla
  3. Small antorbital fenestra set within small antorbital fossa
  4. Wide dorsal process of maxilla with striated jugal horn projecting posteroventrally
  5. Lateral quadrate fenestra covered by quadratojugal
  6. Stout quadrate with posterior groove extending above level of quadratojugal and bulbous distal end
  7. Short conical palpebral projecting posterolaterally over orbit
  8. Lamina of dentary extends posteroventrally over angular

Species

Theiophytalia kerri Brill & Carpenter, 2007

Type species

Named for James Hutchinson Kerr, the Colorado College student who discovered the holotype skull at Garden of the Gods park in 1878.

Holotype
YPM 1887 , Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Material
Two unarticulated segments containing facial bones (premaxilla, maxilla, nasal, lacrimal, prefrontal, palpebral, frontal fragments) and lower jaw elements (dentary, surangular, angular, quadrate, quadratojugal, jugal, prearticular, articular, pterygoid, coronoid, splenial, hyoid).
Horizon
lower Lytle Member, Purgatoire Formation, Aptian–Albian, Early Cretaceous , 121.4–100.5 million years ago
Locality
the ridge extending south towards Colorado City, about 550 m south of the opening between Gateway Rocks, Colorado, United States

References

  1. Brill, K.; Carpenter, K. (2007). A description of a new ornithopod from the Lytle Member of the Purgatoire Formation (Lower Cretaceous) and a reassessment of the skull of Camptosaurus. Horns and Beaks: Ceratopsian and Ornithopod Dinosaurs 49-67. Indiana University Press. brill2007a
  2. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length and mass estimates, and the appearance features.

    paul2024a