Dino card No. 1382 of 2,027

Paraxenisaurus

Say it: pah-RAX-en-ih-SORE-us

Name means: “strange lizard”1

Ate: A bit of everythingOstrich dinosLate Cretaceous

Paraxenisaurus was a large, ostrich-like dinosaur that lived in Mexico during the Late Cretaceous. It had long legs and a stiff tail, and it probably used its clawed hands to grab plants or small animals.1

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Coahuila, Mexico1

Food

A bit of everything2

Length

5.7 m1

estimate based on a close relative

Weight

600 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 3 bicycles in a rowas long as 32 bananas end to endas heavy as 20 big dogsas heavy as 120 watermelons

How big was Paraxenisaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Paraxenisaurus is the only member of its family, Deinocheiridae, known from the ancient continent of Laramidia.1

Its tail was very long and stiff, with little up-and-down movement, unlike many other ornithomimosaurs.1

It still had a first toe, a feature lost in many other ornithomimosaurs.1

The species name 'normalensis' honors the Benemérita Normal School of Coahuila, where the fossils are kept.1

Its fossils were found in rocks that were once a coastal floodplain with rivers and forests.1

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

?How big was Paraxenisaurus?

It was about 5.7 metres (19 feet) long and weighed around 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds). That's roughly as big as a close relative called Beishanlong.1

?What did Paraxenisaurus eat?

It was probably an herbivore or omnivore, meaning it ate plants and maybe small animals. It had clawed hands that could grab food.3

?When did Paraxenisaurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 72 to 66 million years ago.1

?Where was Paraxenisaurus found?

Its fossils were found in the Cerro del Pueblo Formation in Coahuila, Mexico. That area was once a coastal floodplain with rivers and forests.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Paraxenisaurus
Named by: Serrano-Brañas et al. 20203
Group: Ostrich dinos
Family / clade: Deinocheiridae3
Classification: Theropoda > Ornithomimosauria3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)3
Rock formations: Cerro del Pueblo3
Countries: Mexico3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Paraxenisaurus was named in 2020 by Mexican paleontologists Claudia Serrano-Brañas and colleagues, based on bones collected in the 1990s from three sites in Coahuila, Mexico.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure how big Paraxenisaurus grew, because only a few bones have been found.1

Where the facts come from

Paraxenisaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Paraxenisaurus 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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