Alectrosaurus uh-lektroʊ-SƆːRUHS
"alone lizard"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Alectrosaurus 6 m (19.7 ft) long
4 people holding hands
- Length
- 6 m (19.7 ft)
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (102–89.6 Mya)
- Place
- Asia
- Food
- Carnivore
- Clade
- Dinosauria
Alectrosaurus (; meaning “alone lizard”) is a genus of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about some 96 million years ago in what is now the Iren Dabasu Formation.
It was a medium-sized, moderately-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, estimated at 5 – 6 m with a body shape similar to its much larger advanced relative, Tyrannosaurus. Alectrosaurus was a very fast running tyrannosauroid as indicated by the elongated hindlimbs that likely filled the niche of a pursuit predator, a trait that seems to be lost by the advanced and robust tyrannosaurids, in adulthood.
What we know
- Named by Gilmore, 1933.
- Body length estimated at about 6 m.
- Fossils found in Asia.