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Adelolophus

Say it: ad-el-OH-lo-fus

Name means: “unknown crest”1 2

Ate: PlantsDuck-billsLate Cretaceous

Adelolophus was a duck-billed dinosaur with a mysterious crest. It lived in a swampy, coastal environment in what is now Utah. It is the oldest known crested duck-bill from North America.1 4

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Utah, USA1 4

Food

Plants4

Length

8 m3

Weight

3 tonnes3

Height

3 m3

at the hip

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

at the hip

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 2 cars

as long as 8 dogs nose to tailas long as 44 bananas end to endas heavy as 100 big dogsas heavy as 600 watermelonsas tall as 1.5 doors stacked up

How big was Adelolophus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Adelolophus is known only from a single broken maxilla, which is the upper jaw bone.1 2

Its name means 'unknown crest' because scientists do not know what its crest looked like.1 2

It lived about 78 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period.1 4

Adelolophus is a lambeosaurine, a group of duck-billed dinosaurs with hollow crests on their heads.1 4

It is closely related to Parasaurolophus, which had a long, tube-like crest.1

The only known fossil of Adelolophus was found in the Wahweap Formation of southern Utah.1 4

Adelolophus shared its home with other dinosaurs like the horned Diabloceratops and the tyrannosaur Lythronax.1 2

The environment where Adelolophus lived was wet and swampy, near the edge of a sea.1

AI-made picture of Adelolophus — An AI-made picture of how Adelolophus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Adelolophus

?How big was Adelolophus?

Nobody knows for sure, because only a single upper jaw bone (maxilla) has been found. Scientists estimate it was a medium-sized duck-billed dinosaur, but its exact size is unknown.1 2

?What did Adelolophus eat?

It was a plant-eater. As a duck-billed dinosaur (hadrosaur), it likely ate tough plants like ferns and cycads, using its beak-like mouth and grinding teeth.1

?Did Adelolophus have a crest?

Yes, it was a lambeosaurine, a group of duck-billed dinosaurs with hollow head crests. However, its crest is unknown because the only fossil found is a jaw bone, so its name means 'unknown crest'.1 4

?When did Adelolophus live?

It lived about 78 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period. It is the oldest known crested duck-bill from North America.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Adelolophus
Named by: Gates et al. 20144
Group: Duck-bills
Family / clade: Hadrosauridae4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia > Hadrosauridae4
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)4
Rock formations: Wahweap4
Countries: USA4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Adelolophus was named in 2014 by Terry Gates and colleagues. The fossil was discovered by Dr. Howard Hutchison, after whom the species is named.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure what the crest of Adelolophus looked like because only a piece of its upper jaw has been found.1 2

Where the facts come from

Adelolophus (en.wikipedia.org)
New Hadrosaurid (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) specimens from the lower, middle campanian wahweap formation of southern Utah (researchgate.net)
Adelolophus | Part of the Ornithopod Family of Dinosaurs (dinosaurmadness.com)
Adelolophus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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