Dinosaurs A to Z
Hadrosauridae

Secernosaurus koerneri

"severed lizard"

Generic ornithopod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Secernosaurus 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ornithopod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Secernosaurus
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (68–66 Mya)
Place
North America · South America · Asia · Argentina
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Hadrosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Cerapoda Ornithopoda Iguanodontia Duck-billed dinosaurs with tooth batteries.

Secernosaurus (meaning “severed lizard”) is a genus of herbivorous hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous of what is now Argentina. This genus and its close relatives lived in South America, unlike most hadrosaurids, which lived in the Laurasian continents of Eurasia and North America. It has been suggested that the ancestors of Secernosaurus crossed into South America when a land bridge temporarily formed between North and South America during the Late Cretaceous and allowed biotic interchange between the two continents.

What we know

  • Named by Brett-Surman, 1979.
  • Body length estimated at about 5 m.
  • Fossils found in North America and South America.

What we guess

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