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Ptychotherates

Say it: tie-ko-THER-ah-teez

Name means: “fold hunter”1

Ate: MeatFirst dinosaursLate Triassic

Ptychotherates was a meat-eating dinosaur that lived near the end of the Triassic Period. It had a very deep cheek bone, deeper than any other Triassic dinosaur. Only one skull has been found, but it tells us a lot about how early dinosaurs lived in what is now New Mexico, USA.1

Lived

206 to 201 million years ago4

Late Triassic

Fossils found in

Ghost Ranch Quarry, northern New Mexico, USA4 1

Food

Meat1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Ptychotherates is known from only one partial skull, which was found in a block of rock collected in 1982 by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.1

Its cheek bone (the jugal) is the deepest known for any Triassic dinosaur, meaning it was very tall from top to bottom.2 1

Ptychotherates lived alongside the famous dinosaur Coelophysis, which is known from thousands of skeletons at the same quarry.1

It belongs to a group of early meat-eating dinosaurs called Morphoraptora, which includes Tawa and Chindesaurus.2 1

The name Ptychotherates means 'fold hunter' because the skull bones were twisted and hard to put back together.1

This dinosaur lived about 205 to 201 million years ago, near the very end of the Triassic Period.4

Ptychotherates shows that some early dinosaur groups survived longer at low latitudes (near the equator) than they did elsewhere.2

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

?How big was Ptychotherates?

Nobody knows for sure because only one partial skull has been found. The skull is about 29 mm tall at the cheek bone, but the full size of the dinosaur is unknown.1

?What did Ptychotherates eat?

It was a meat-eater. Its name means 'fold hunter' because of its carnivorous habits inferred from its teeth.3 1

?When did Ptychotherates live?

It lived near the end of the Triassic Period, about 205 to 201 million years ago, during the Norian or Rhaetian ages.3

?Where was Ptychotherates found?

It was discovered in the Coelophysis Quarry at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, USA, in rocks of the Chinle Formation.3

?Why did Ptychotherates have a deep cheek bone?

Scientists are not sure why its cheek bone (jugal) was so deep, but it is the deepest known for any Triassic dinosaur. It may have been for strength or display.3 1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Ptychotherates
Named by: Srivastava and Nesbitt 20264
Group: First dinosaurs
Family / clade: Morphoraptora4
Age of the rocks: 206 to 201 million years (Rhaetian)4
Rock formations: Chinle4
Countries: USA4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Ptychotherates was named in 2026 by scientists S. Srivastava and S. J. Nesbitt. The only fossil, a partial skull, came from the Coelophysis Quarry at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, and was collected by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 1982.4 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Ptychotherates is related to other early dinosaurs, because its skull has a mix of features from both herrerasaurians and neotheropods.1

Where the facts come from

A new taxon of saurischian dinosaur from the Coelophysis Quarry of New Mexico, USA (Triassic: latest Norian or Rhaetian) highlights herrerasaurian diversity in the latest Triassic (dinodata.de)
A new taxon of saurischian dinosaur from the Coelophysis Quarry of New Mexico, USA (Triassic: latest Norian or Rhaetian) highlights herrerasaurian diversity in the latest Triassic | NSF Public Access Repository (par.nsf.gov)
Ptychotherates (en.wikipedia.org)
Ptychotherates in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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