Stenopelix
Stenopelix was a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 140 million years ago in what is now Germany. It walked on two legs and had a beak-like mouth for snipping plants. Scientists know it from a partial skeleton, but it was still a real horned dinosaur!13
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Fun facts
Stenopelix is known from a skeleton that lacks the skull and neck, but the hip bones are so special that scientists use them to tell what kind of dinosaur it was.1
The fossil was found in 1855, but the bones were so soft that they left hollow impressions in the rock. Scientists made plaster and latex casts from these natural molds to study the dinosaur.1
Stenopelix was about 1.4 meters long, which is about as long as a bicycle, and weighed around 10 kilograms, like a big dog.1
For a long time, scientists argued about whether Stenopelix was a horned dinosaur or a dome-headed dinosaur. Now most think it was a horned dinosaur, but not everyone agrees.1
The hip bone of Stenopelix has a distinctive kink in the middle, which helps scientists identify it.1
Stenopelix lived about 140 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period, when Germany was a warm, lowland area.1
Most asked questions about Stenopelix
?What did Stenopelix eat?
Stenopelix was a plant eater (herbivore). It had a beak like mouth for snipping plants.12
?How big was Stenopelix?
Stenopelix was about 1.4 metres (4.6 feet) long and weighed around 10 kilograms (22 pounds). That is about as long as a bicycle and as heavy as a big dog.12
?When did Stenopelix live?
Stenopelix lived about 140 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.12
?Where was Stenopelix found?
Stenopelix was found in Germany, near Bückeburg on the Harrl, in a sandstone quarry.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Stenopelix was a pachycephalosaur, a dome-headed dinosaur.
Truth: Scientists used to think that, but most now classify it as a ceratopsian, a horned dinosaur, based on hip features.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Stenopelix
- Named by
- Meyer 18573
- Group
- Horned dinos
- Family / clade
- Chaoyangsauridae3
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ceratopsia3
- Age of the rocks
- 139 to 137 million years (Berriasian)3
- Rock formations
- Bückeberg3
- Countries
- Germany3
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
- Discovery
- The fossil was found in 1855 in a sandstone quarry near Bückeburg, Germany. Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer named it Stenopelix valdensis in 1857.1
- Still debated
- Scientists still debate whether Stenopelix is a horned dinosaur or a dome-headed dinosaur, because the skull is missing.1
Where the facts come from
- Stenopelix (en.wikipedia.org)
- Stenopelix (nhm.ac.uk)
- Stenopelix 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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