Dinosaurs A to Z
Hadrosauridae

Malefica deckerti

"witch"

Generic ornithopod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Malefica 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 Malefica
Length
9 m (29.5 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (81.5–76.9 Mya)
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Hadrosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Cerapoda Ornithopoda Iguanodontia Duck-billed dinosaurs with tooth batteries.

Malefica (meaning “witch” or “sorceress”) is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Aguja Formation of Texas. The type and only species is Malefica deckerti.

What we know

  • Named by Prieto-Márquez & Wagner, 2022.

What we guess

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