Proceratosaurus
Proceratosaurus was a small, meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now England during the Middle Jurassic. It is one of the earliest known relatives of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, but it was much smaller and had a crest on its snout.12
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Fun facts
Proceratosaurus is known from only one partial skull, so scientists are not sure exactly what the rest of its body looked like.2
It had a bony crest on top of its snout, which was probably used to show off to other dinosaurs, not for fighting.1
Proceratosaurus lived about 166 million years ago, during the Middle Jurassic, when England was a warm, subtropical island.1
Its teeth were different shapes: D-shaped teeth at the front of the jaw and flattened, serrated teeth at the sides.1
Scientists used computer models to estimate that Proceratosaurus had a bite force of about 390 newtons, similar to a modern fox.1
Proceratosaurus is a member of the group Proceratosauridae, which includes some of the earliest tyrannosauroids.1
Most asked questions about Proceratosaurus
?How big was Proceratosaurus?
About 3 metres long, not counting the tail. It weighed around 28 to 36 kilograms, about the size of a large dog.12
?What did Proceratosaurus eat?
Proceratosaurus was a meat-eater (carnivore). It probably ate small prey like lizards and small dinosaurs.13
?Did Proceratosaurus have feathers?
Scientists think it probably did. Close relatives like Yutyrannus had downy feathers, so it is reasonable to infer Proceratosaurus had them too.1
?Was Proceratosaurus bigger than T. rex?
No. Proceratosaurus was much smaller, only about 3 metres long. T. rex was over 12 metres long and weighed many times more.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Proceratosaurus was a close relative of Ceratosaurus.
Truth: Proceratosaurus was named because scientists thought it was related to Ceratosaurus, but later studies showed it is actually an early relative of Tyrannosaurus rex.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Proceratosaurus
- Named by
- Huene 19264
- Group
- Tyrannosaurs
- Family / clade
- Proceratosauridae4
- Classification
- Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea4
- Age of the rocks
- 168 to 165 million years (Bathonian)4
- Rock formations
- White Limestone4
- Countries
- United Kingdom4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- The skull was found by F. Lewis Bradley while digging a reservoir near Minchinhampton, England. It was first named Megalosaurus bradleyi in 1910, then given its own genus Proceratosaurus in 1926.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure exactly how big Proceratosaurus was, because only its skull has been found.2
Where the facts come from
- Proceratosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Proceratosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
- Dinosaurs - Proceratosaurus bradleyi - The Australian Museum (australian.museum)
- Proceratosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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