Kryptops
Kryptops was a meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now the Sahara Desert in Africa. It had a rough, bumpy face that might have been covered with a hard, horny layer like a beak. It was one of the oldest members of its family, the abelisaurids.1
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Fun facts
Kryptops is one of the oldest known abelisaurids, a family of meat-eating dinosaurs that later included Carnotaurus.1
The outside of its upper jaw bone had deep grooves and pits, which suggests it was covered with a tight, horny covering like keratin.1
Kryptops lived about 112 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period.1
Only one specimen of Kryptops has been found, and it includes an upper jaw bone, some back bones, ribs, and hip bones.1
Some bones that were first thought to belong to Kryptops later turned out to be from a different dinosaur, an allosauroid.1
Most asked questions about Kryptops
?How big was Kryptops?
About 6 to 7 metres (19.7 to 23.0 feet) long, which is similar in size to later abelisaurids like Carnotaurus.1
?What did Kryptops eat?
It was a meat-eater that probably ate dead animals like a hyena, using its short jaws and small teeth to gnaw on carcasses.3
?Did Kryptops have feathers?
Nobody knows for sure, but its face was covered in a hard, horny layer like keratin, not feathers.1
?Why did Kryptops have a rough face?
Its upper jaw had deep grooves and pits that probably held a tight, horny covering like a beak, which gave it the name 'covered face'.1
?Is Kryptops a dinosaur?
Yes, it is a dinosaur. It was a meat-eating theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period.1
?When did Kryptops live?
It lived about 112 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period (Aptian to Albian ages).1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Kryptops
- Named by
- Sereno and Brusatte 20084
- Group
- Other meat-eaters
- Family / clade
- Abelisauridae4
- Classification
- Theropoda > Ceratosauria > Abelisauridae4
- Age of the rocks
- 121 to 100 million years (Aptian / Albian)4
- Rock formations
- Elrhaz4
- Countries
- Niger4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Kryptops was named in 2008 by paleontologists Paul Sereno and Steve Brusatte. The fossils were found in 2000 during a University of Chicago expedition to Niger led by Sereno.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure if all the bones assigned to Kryptops really belong to it, because some may be from a different dinosaur.1
Where the facts come from
- Kryptops (en.wikipedia.org)
- PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
- New meat-eating dinosaur duo from Sahara ate like hyenas, sharks | University of Chicago News (news.uchicago.edu)
- Kryptops in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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