Pawpawsaurus
Pawpawsaurus was a medium-sized armoured dinosaur that lived in what is now Texas, USA, about 100 million years ago. It had a complete skull with bony eyelids, which is rare among its relatives. Scientists used CT scans to study its brain and inner ear, learning how it sensed the world.12
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Fun facts
Pawpawsaurus is the only nodosaurid known to have had bony eyelids, which are common in ankylosaurids.1
Its brain was about 96 millimetres (3.8 inches) long and 35 millimetres (1.4 inches) wide, which is 30% of the skull length.1
CT scans revealed that Pawpawsaurus had hearing similar to modern crocodilians, meaning it did not hear very well.1
Its sense of smell was more powerful than many meat-eating dinosaurs of its time, thanks to its large nasal cavities.1
The large nasal cavities may have helped cool blood going to the brain, find food, or detect danger.1
The only known specimen is a complete skull, which was found in 1992 by Cameron Campbell.1
Most asked questions about Pawpawsaurus
?How big was Pawpawsaurus?
It was a medium sized nodosaur, about 4.5 metres (15 feet) long.1
?Did Pawpawsaurus have a club tail?
No, it did not have a club tail. Unlike Ankylosaurus, Pawpawsaurus and its group (Nodosauridae) lacked that weapon.4
?What did Pawpawsaurus eat?
It was a plant-eater. As an ankylosaur, it ate plants, though its exact diet is not known from the skull alone.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Pawpawsaurus is often thought to be a small dinosaur because of its name.
Truth: Pawpawsaurus was actually a medium-sized dinosaur, measuring about 4.5 metres (15 feet) long.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Pawpawsaurus
- Named by
- Lee 19965
- Group
- Armoured dinos
- Family / clade
- Nodosauridae5
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Nodosauridae > Thyreophora5
- Age of the rocks
- 106 to 100 million years (Albian)5
- Rock formations
- Paw Paw5
- Countries
- USA5
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
- Discovery
- Pawpawsaurus was named by Y. N. Lee in 1996 based on a complete skull found in the Paw Paw Formation of Texas in May 1992 by Cameron Campbell.15
- Still debated
- Scientists debate whether Pawpawsaurus might be the same species as another nodosaurid from the same formation, Texasetes pleurohalio.1
Where the facts come from
- Pawpawsaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Endocranial Morphology of the Primitive Nodosaurid Dinosaur Pawpawsaurus campbelli from the Early Cretaceous of North America | PLOS One (journals.plos.org)
- PAWPAWSAURUS - DinoChecker dinosaur archive (dinochecker.com)
- Early armored dino from Texas lacked cousin's club-tail weapon, but had a nose for danger | EurekAlert! (eurekalert.org)
- Pawpawsaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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