Archaeocursor asiaticus

"old runner"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Archaeocursor 1 m (3.3 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
Length
1 m (3.3 ft)
Period
Early Jurassic (201–174 Mya)
Place
Asia · China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Archaeocursor reconstruction by TotalDino
Reconstruction · TotalDino (CC-BY)

Archaeocursor (meaning “old runner”) is an extinct genus of basal ornithischian dinosaurs from the Early Jurassic Ziliujing Formation of China. The genus contains a single species, A. asiaticus, known from a single femur. Archaeocursor represents the oldest and most basal ornithischian described from Asia.

What we know

  • Named by Yao et al., 2025.
  • Body length estimated at about 1 m.
  • Fossils found in Asia and China.

What we guess

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