Lycorhinus Lycorhinus

"wolf"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Lycorhinus 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long
2 people holding hands
Length
1.2 m (3.9 ft)
Period
Early Jurassic (201–174 Mya)
Place
Africa · South Africa
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Heterodontosauridae

Lycorhinus is a genus of heterodontosaurid ornithischian dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic, in the Sinemurian. It is known from a single species L. angustidens, that was named in 1924 by Sidney H. Haughton as a cynodont for a partial jaw found in the Upper Elliot Formation of South Africa. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek words for “wolf” and “nose”. The limited material available, which has degraded over time to only be represented now by a single original tooth and the impression of the remaining jaw and teeth, has resulted in multiple different interpretations of the diagnostic nature and synonymy of Lycorhinus, including the treatmens of the type species of Heterodontosaurus, Abrictosaurus, and Lanasaurus as either species of Lycorhinus or synonyms.

What we know

  • Named by Haughton, 1924.
  • Body length estimated at about 1.2 m.
  • Fossils found in Africa and South Africa.