Valdosaurus Valdosaurus

"Etymology TBD"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Valdosaurus 4 m (13.1 ft) long
3 people holding hands
Length
4 m (13.1 ft)
Period
Early Cretaceous (140–121 Mya)
Place
United Kingdom · Niger
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dryosauridae

Valdosaurus (“Weald lizard”) is a genus of bipedal herbivorous dryosaurid dinosaur known from the Early Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight and elsewhere in England. Originally its remains were believed to belong to Hypsilophodon. In 1889, Richard Lydekker assigned them to Camptosaurus, alongside a partial lower jaw, and applied the name Camptosaurus valdensis. In the 1970s, Peter Galton reassigned these remains to a new species of Dryosaurus, then to an entirely new genus and species, that being Valdosaurus proper. The type and only species of Valdosaurus, named by Galton, is V. canaliculatus.

Numerous specimens have been assigned to Valdosaurus over the years. Some, namely those found in Niger (now Elrhazosaurus), have been reassigned to different genera, while others have simply been redesignated as indeterminate. With that said, additional specimens of V.

What we know

  • Named by Galton, 1977 (Galton, 1975).
  • Body length estimated at about 4 m.
  • Fossils found in United Kingdom and Niger.