Dino card No. 0325 of 2,027

Calamosaurus

Say it: KAL-ah-moh-SORE-us

Name means: “reed lizard”1

Ate: MeatTyrannosaursEarly Cretaceous

Calamosaurus was a small, meat-eating dinosaur that lived on the Isle of Wight in England during the Early Cretaceous. It was a relative of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, but much smaller and lighter. Scientists know it from just a few neck bones, so it is still a bit mysterious.1 3

Lived

126 to 120 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom1 3

Food

Meat3

Length

3.5 m1

estimate based on limited fossil material

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 4 dogs nose to tailas long as 19 bananas end to end

How big was Calamosaurus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Calamosaurus is known from only two neck vertebrae, which are about 40 mm (1.6 inches) long each.1

The name Calamosaurus means 'reed lizard', because the vertebrae look light and slender like a reed.1

Scientists think Calamosaurus might be a very early relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, belonging to a group called tyrannosauroids.1 2

The fossils were collected by Reverend William Fox, a fossil hunter, in the 1800s.1

Calamosaurus lived in a floodplain environment with rivers and lakes, and sometimes wildfires.1

Some scientists think Calamosaurus might be a basal alvarezsauroid instead of a tyrannosauroid, showing that its family tree is still debated.1

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

?How big was Calamosaurus?

It was about 3.5 metres long, which is roughly the size of a small car.1

?Is Calamosaurus a dinosaur?

Yes, it is a small theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period.1

?Why is Calamosaurus called 'reed lizard'?

Its name means 'reed lizard' because its neck bones are light and slender, like a reed.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Calamosaurus was a large, powerful predator like Tyrannosaurus rex.

Truth: Calamosaurus was actually a small dinosaur, only about 3.5 metres (11 feet) long, and lightly built. It was a distant relative, not a giant.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Calamosaurus
Named by: Lydekker 18913
Group: Tyrannosaurs
Family / clade: Tyrannosauroidea3
Classification: Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea3
Age of the rocks: 126 to 120 million years (Barremian / Aptian)3
Countries: United Kingdom3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The fossils were collected by Reverend William Fox on the Isle of Wight. Richard Lydekker named them Calamospondylus foxi in 1889, but later changed the name to Calamosaurus foxi in 1891 because the first name was already used.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Calamosaurus belongs to the tyrannosauroid group or the alvarezsauroid group. More fossils are needed to settle the debate.1

Where the facts come from

Calamosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Calamosaurus, an Isle of Wight tyrannosauroid - DinoWight (dinowight.org.uk)
Calamosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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