Angulomastacator daviesi

"bend chewer"

Generic ornithopod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Angulomastacator 9 m (29.5 ft) long
as long as 6 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ornithopod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Angulomastacator
Length
9 m (29.5 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (76.6 Mya)
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Hadrosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Cerapoda Ornithopoda Iguanodontia Duck-billed dinosaurs with tooth batteries.

Angulomastacator (meaning “bend chewer”, in reference to both the shape of its upper jaw and to the Big Bend area of the Rio Grande, where the type specimen was found) is a genus of duck-billed dinosaur from the Campanian-aged (Late Cretaceous) Aguja Formation of Big Bend National Park, Texas.

It is known from a single specimen, TMM43681–1, a partial left maxilla (the main tooth-bearing bone of the upper jaw). This bone is curved down approximately 45° at its anterior end, with the tooth row bent to fit, unlike any other hadrosaur. The unusual characteristics of the maxilla, which have not been reported from elsewhere, supports the hypothesis that the dinosaurs of the Aguja Formation were endemic forms. It was discovered in the upper shale member of the Aguja Formation, among plant, bone, and clam fragments in a bed interpreted as the deposits of a small tributary channel.

What we know

  • Named by Wagner & Lehman, 2009.

What we guess

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