Dinosaurs A to Z
Heterodontosauridae

Abrictosaurus uh-brihktuh-SORRUHS

"wakeful"

Generic small ornithischian body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Abrictosaurus 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic small ornithischian body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Abrictosaurus
Length
1.2 m (3.9 ft)
Period
Early Jurassic (199–196 Mya)
Place
Africa · South Africa
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Heterodontosauridae
Abrictosaurus reconstruction by LadyofHats
Reconstruction · LadyofHats (CC0)

Abrictosaurus (; “wakeful lizard”) is a genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic in what is now in parts of southern Africa such as Lesotho and South Africa. It was a bipedal herbivore or omnivore and was one of the most basal heterodontosaurids. It was approximately 1.2 m long and weighed less than 45 kg.

This dinosaur is known from the fossil remains of only two individuals, found in the Upper Elliot Formation of Qacha’s Nek District in Lesotho and Cape Province in South Africa. The Upper Elliot is thought to date from the Hettangian and Sinemurian stages of the Early Jurassic Period, approximately 200 to 190 million years ago. This formation is thought to preserve sand dunes as well as seasonal floodplains, in a semiarid environment with sporadic rainfall.

What we know

  • Named by Hopson, 1975.
  • Body length estimated at about 1.2 m.
  • Fossils found in Africa and South Africa.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Abrictosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.