Ptychotherates bucculentus

"fold hunter"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Ptychotherates 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Late Triassic (237–201 Mya)
Place
United States · Mexico · New Mexico, USA
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Ptychotherates reconstruction by Connor Ashbridge
Reconstruction · Connor Ashbridge (CC-BY)

Ptychotherates (“fold hunter”) is an extinct genus of saurischian dinosaur known from the Late Triassic (Norian or Rhaetian ages) Chinle Formation of Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, United States. The genus contains a single species, Ptychotherates bucculentus, known from a partial skull. The bone of the skull is unusually tall, deeper than in any other Triassic dinosaur. Ptychotherates is closely related to Chindesaurus, Daemonosaurus, and Tawa, together forming the clade Morphoraptora within Herrerasauria.

What we know

  • Named by Srivastava & Nesbitt, 2026.
  • Fossils found in United States and Mexico.

What we guess

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