Dinosaurs A to Z
Abelisauridae

Kryptops

"covered face"

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Kryptops 7 m (23 ft) long
as long as 4 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Kryptops
Length
7 m (23 ft)
Period
Early Cretaceous (115–110 Mya)
Place
Niger
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Abelisauridae

Kryptops (meaning “covered face”) is an extinct genus of possibly chimeric abelisaurid theropod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of Niger. It is known from a partial maxilla (upper jaw bone) found at the Gadoufaoua locality in the western Ténéré Desert, in rocks of the Aptian–Albian-age Elrhaz Formation. The fossils were collected in 2000 by a University of Chicago expedition to Niger led by American paleontologist Paul Sereno. They were then described in 2008 by Sereno and Steve Brusatte. The genus contains a single species, Kryptops palaios. Sereno and Brusatte referred several postcranial remains to Kryptops, but later studies have shown that these elements belong to an allosauroid theropod, leaving Kryptops to be only known from the incomplete maxilla.

Kryptops is one of the oldest known members of the Abelisauridae, making it vital to understanding this family’s evolution.

What we know

  • Named by Sereno & Brusatte, 2008.
  • Body length estimated at about 7 m.
  • Fossils found in Niger.

What we guess

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