Archaeocursor

Say it: AR-kee-oh-KUR-sor

Name means: “ancient runner from Asia”1

Ate: PlantsBeaked plant-eatersEarly Jurassic

Archaeocursor was a tiny, speedy plant-eater that lived in what is now China. It was one of the earliest beaked dinosaurs in Asia, and it was only about as long as a big dog!1

Lived

200 to 184 million years ago3

Early Jurassic

Fossils found in

near Congyansi subway station, Chongqing Municipality, southwestern China1

Food

Plants3

Length

1 m1

estimate based on femur length

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2 house cats nose to tailas long as 6 bananas end to end

How big was Archaeocursor compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Archaeocursor is known from just one fossil: a nearly complete left thigh bone (femur) that is 93 millimetres long.1

It lived during the Early Jurassic period, about 199 to 184 million years ago, in the Sinemurian to Pliensbachian stages.3

Scientists think Archaeocursor was a young adult when it died, because of the growth rings in its thigh bone.1

This dinosaur is the oldest ornithischian (beaked plant-eater) ever found in Asia.1

Archaeocursor was about the same size as Eocursor, another early ornithischian from South Africa.1

Its name means 'ancient runner from Asia', because it was built for speed with long legs.1

AI-made picture of Archaeocursor — An AI-made picture of how Archaeocursor 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 Archaeocursor

?How big was Archaeocursor?

About 1 metre (3.3 feet) long, which is roughly the size of a big dog.2 1

?What did Archaeocursor eat?

It was a plant-eater, like other ornithischian dinosaurs.2

?When did Archaeocursor live?

It lived during the Early Jurassic period, about 199 to 184 million years ago.2 1

?Why is it called Archaeocursor?

Its name means ancient runner because it was an ancient dinosaur built for speed.2

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Archaeocursor
Named by: Yao et al. 20253
Group: Beaked plant-eaters
Family / clade: Ornithischia3
Classification: Ornithischia3
Age of the rocks: 200 to 184 million years (Sinemurian / Pliensbachian)3
Rock formations: Ziliujing3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Archaeocursor was named in 2025 by a team of scientists including X. Yao, Q. Zhao, T. Ren, G. Wei, and X. Xu. The single fossil was found near a subway station in Chongqing, China.3 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Archaeocursor is related to other early ornithischians. The family tree shows it as the earliest-diverging ornithischian in Asia, but this is not strongly supported.1

Where the facts come from

New evidence for the earliest ornithischian dinosaurs from Asia (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Archaeocursor (en.wikipedia.org)
Archaeocursor in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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