Family

Valid Extinct

Thescelosauridae

Sternberg 1937

Thescelosauridae is a clade of small-medium sized bipedal neornithischians from the Cretaceous of East Asia and North America. The group was originally used as a name by Charles M. Sternberg in 1937, but was not formally defined until 2013, where it was used by Brown and colleagues as the group uniting Thescelosaurus and Orodromeus, based on their phylogenetic results.

Temporal range

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

Paleogene

Neogene

252 201 145 66 0 Ma

PBDB occurrences

111

Group

Dinosaures

Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial

click to enlarge

A Thescelosaurus at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Illinois, USA. Size:12 feet in length, 3 ft tall at the hip Weight: 670 lbs when alive. © Ben Jacobson (Kranar Drogin) · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia

PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗

Classification

Dinosauria Unranked clade

›

Ornithischia Unranked clade

›

Neornithischia Unranked clade

›

Thescelosauridae Family

Fossil sites 111 geolocated sites

Distribution

Top countries

🇺🇸 United States

🇨🇦 Canada

🇨🇳 China

🇰🇷 South Korea

🇲🇳 Mongolia

Geological formations

Hell Creek

Lance

Wayan

Two Medicine

Oldman

Cedar Mountain

Cloverly

Dinosaur Park

Ferris

Horseshoe Canyon

Temporal distribution

Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)

Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)

Turonian (93.9–89.8 Ma)

Cenomanian (100.5–93.9 Ma)

Albian (113.2–100.5 Ma)

Barremian (125.77–121.4 Ma)

Images 1

Bibliography

Original description

C. M. Sternberg. 1937. Classification of Thescelosaurus, with a description of a new species. Proceedings of the Geological Society of America 1936:375

Bibliography (60)

J. Jung, M. Kim, and H. Jo, J. A. Clarke. 2026. A new dinosaur species from Korea and its implications for early-diverging neornithischian diversity. Fossil Record 29(1):87-113 DOI ↗

J. P. B. Crothers. 2025. Fish & Reptiles of the Rebecca’s Hollow Site, Williams Fork Formation, Late Cretaceous (Edmontonian), Colorado & ‘Between The Dinosaurs’ Toes’: Approaches to Exhibiting Microvertebrate Fossils in Museum Displays (With Emphasis on the Cretaceous Period).

H. M. Avrahami, P. J. Makovicky, and R. T. Tucker, L. E. Zanno. 2024. A new semi‐fossorial thescelosaurine dinosaur from the Cenomanian‐age Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah. The Anatomical Record 307(12):3717-3781 DOI ↗

J. W. Bonde, R. L. Hall, and L. J. Krumenacker, D. J. Varricchio. 2022. Nevadadromeus schmitti (gen. et sp. nov.), a new basal neornithischian with affinities to the Thescelosaurinae, from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Willow Tank Formation of southern Nevada. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 50(1):1-8 DOI ↗

F. Fanti, P. R. Bell, and M. J. Vavrek, D. W. Larson, E. B. Koppelhus, R. L. Sissons, A. Langone, N. E. Campione, C. Sullivan. 2022. Filling the Bearpaw gap: evidence for palaeoenvironment-driven taxon distribution in a diverse, non-marine ecosystem from the late Campanian of west-central Alberta, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 592:110923 DOI ↗

H. Zhang, D. Yu, and Y. Feng, R. Pei, C.-F. Zhou. 2022. A Lujiatun-like dinosaurian assemblage from the Jehol Biota of Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia, Northeast China. Acta Paleontologica Polonica 67(3):617-621 DOI ↗

D. E. Barta and M. A. Norell. 2021. The osteology of Haya griva (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 445:1-111 DOI ↗

M. N. Hudgins. 2021. The Paleobiology, Paleoecology, and Evolution of Thescelosauridae (Ornithischia) from Alberta, Canada.

M. A. McLain, P. V. Ullmann, and R. D. Ash, K. Bohnstedt, D. Nelsen, R. O. Clark, L. R. Brand, A. V. Chadwick. 2021. Independent confirmation of fluvial reworking at a Lance Formation (Maastrichtian) bonebed by traditional and chemical taphonomic analyses. PALAIOS 36(6):193-215 DOI ↗

W. W. Stein. 2021. The paleontology, geology and taphonomy of the Tooth Draw Deposit; Hell Creek Formation (Maastrictian), Butte County, South Dakota. The Journal of Paleontological Sciences JPS.C.21:0001:1-108

K. Snyder, M. McLain, and J. Wood, A. V. Chadwick. 2020. Over 13,000 elements from a single bonebed help elucidate disarticulation and transport of an Edmontosaurus thanatocoenosis. PLoS One 15(5):e0233182:1-31 DOI ↗

Y. Yang, W. Wu, and P.-E. Dieudonné, P. Godefroit. 2020. A new basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China. PeerJ 8:e9832:1-44 DOI ↗

Y. Rollot, T. R. Lyson, and W. G. Joyce. 2018. A Description of the Skull of Eubaena cephalica (Hay, 1904) and New Insights into the Cranial Circulation and Innervation of Baenid Turtles. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology e1474886:1-11 DOI ↗

W. G. Joyce, T. R. Lyson, and S. Williams. 2016. New cranial material of Gilmoremys lancensis (Testudines, Trionychidae) from the Hell Creek Formation of southeastern Montana, U.S.A. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36(6):e1225748:1-10 DOI ↗

C. M. Brown, D. C. Evans, and M. J. Ryan, A. P. Russell. 2013. New data on the diversity and abundance of small-bodied ornithopods (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Belly River Group (Campanian) of Alberta. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(3):495-520 DOI ↗

M. P. J. Oreska, M. T. Carrano, and K. M. Dzikiewicz. 2013. Vertebrate paleontology of the Cloverly Formation (Lower Cretaceous), I: faunal composition, biogeographic relationships, and sampling. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(2):264-292 DOI ↗

D. C. Evans, P. M. Barrett, and K. L. Seymour. 2012. Revised identification of a reported Iguanodon-grade ornithopod tooth from the Scollard Formation, Alberta, Canada. Cretaceous Research 33(1):11-14 DOI ↗

W. Zheng, X. Jin, and M. Shibata, Y. Azuma, F.-M. Yu. 2012. A new ornithischian dinosaur from the Cretaceous Liangtoutang Formation of Tiantai, Zhejiang Province, China. Cretaceous Research 34:208-219 DOI ↗

C. M. Brown and P. S. Druckenmiller. 2011. Basal ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) teeth from the Prince Creek Formation (early Maastrichtian) of Alaska. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 48:1342-1354 DOI ↗

C. M. Brown, C. A. Boyd, and A. P. Russell. 2011. A new basal ornithopod dinosaur (Frenchman Formation, Saskatchewan, Canada), and implications for late Maastrichtian ornithischian diversity in North America. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 163(4):1157-1198 DOI ↗

M. Huh, D.-G. Lee, and J.-K. Kim, J.-D. Lim, P. Godefroit. 2011. A new basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of South Korea. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen 259(1):1-24 DOI ↗

P. J. Makovicky, B. M. Kilbourne, and R. W. Sadleir, M. A. Norell. 2011. A new basal ornithopod (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31(3):626-640 DOI ↗

L. J. Krumenacker. 2010. Chronostratigraphy and Paleoecology of the Mid-Cretaceous Wayan Formation of Eastern Idaho, with a Description of the First Oryctodromeus Specimens from Idaho.

D. W. Larson, D. B. Brinkman, and P. R. Bell. 2010. Faunal assemblages from the upper Horseshoe Canyon Formation, an early Maastrichtian cool-climate assemblage from Alberta, with special reference to the Albertosaurus sarcophagus bonebed. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47:1159-1181 DOI ↗

C. A. Boyd, C. M. Brown, and R. D. Scheetz, J. A. Clarke. 2009. Taxonomic revision of the basal neornithischian taxa Thescelosaurus and Bugenasaura. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(3):758-770 DOI ↗

L. E. Wilson. 2008. Comparative taphonomy and paleoecological reconstruction of two microvertebrate accumulations from the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation (Maastrichtian), eastern Montana. Palaios 23:289-297 DOI ↗

D. J. Varricchio, A. J. Martin, and Y. Katsura. 2007. First trace and body fossil evidence of a burrowing, denning dinosaur. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 274:1361-1368 DOI ↗

M. T. Carrano. 2006. Fossil Vertebrate Collections, Museum of the Rockies

M. T. Carrano. 2005. Fossil Vertebrate Collections, University of California Museum of Paleontology

S.-Q. Zan, J. Chen, and L.-Y. Jin, T. Li. 2005. A primitive ornithopod from the Early Cretaceous Quantou Formation of central Jilin, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 43(3):182-193

D. A. Pearson, T. Schaefer, and K. R. Johnson, D. J. Nichols, J. P. Hunter. 2002. Vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Hell Creek Formation in southwestern North Dakota and northwestern South Dakota. The Hell Creek Formation and the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in the Northern Great Plains: An Integrated Continental Record of the End of the Cretaceous, Geological Society of America Special Paper 361:145-167 DOI ↗

P. E. Fisher, D. A. Russell, and M. K. Stoskopf, R. E. Barrick, M. Hammer, A. A. Kuzmitz. 2000. Cardiovascular evidence for an intermediate or higher metabolism in an ornithischian dinosaur. Science 288:503-505 DOI ↗

X. Xu, X.-L. Wang, and H.-L. You. 2000. A primitive ornithopod from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 38(4):318-325

J. A. Lillegraven and J. J. Eberle. 1999. Vertebrate faunal changes through Lancian and Puercan time in southern Wyoming. Journal of Paleontology 73(4):691-710 DOI ↗

J. M. Parrish. 1999. Dinosaur teeth from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian–Judithian) of southern Utah. Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah, Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 99-1:319-321

P. M. Galton. 1995. The species of the basal hypsilophodontid dinosaur Thescelosaurus Gilmore (Ornithischia: Ornithopoda) from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 198(3):297-311 DOI ↗

J. E. Storer. 1993. Additions to the mammalian paleofauna of Saskatchewan. Modern Geology 18(4):475-487

D. B. Brinkman. 1990. Paleontology of the Judith River Formation (Campanian) of Dinosaur National Park, Alberta, Canada: evidence from vertebrate microfossil locality. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 78:37-54

K. F. Hirsch and B. Quinn. 1990. Eggs and eggshell fragments from the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 10(4):491-511 DOI ↗

D. A. Eberth, D. B. Brinkman, and P. A. Johnston. 1988. Bonebed 31. In D. A. Eberth (ed.), Palaeoecology of Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 48th Annual Meeting, Field Trip "B" (October 12, 1988). Occasional Paper of theTyrrell Museum of Palaeontology 7:23-26

J. R. Horner and D. B. Weishampel. 1988. A comparative embryological study of two ornithischian dinosaurs. Nature 332:256-257 DOI ↗

M. Montellano. 1988. Alphadon halleyi (Didelphidae, Marsupialia) from the Two Medicine Formation (Late Cretaceous, Judithian) of Montana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 8(4):378-382 DOI ↗

J. L. Whitmore and J. E. Martin. 1986. Vertebrate fossils from the Greasewood Creek locality in the Late Cretaceous Lance Formation of Niobrara County, Wyoming. Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Sciences 65:33-50

P. R. Bjork. 1985. Preliminary report on the Ruby Site bone bed, Upper Cretaceous South Dakota. Geological Society of America, Rocky Mountain Section, Abstracts with Programs 17(4):209

P. J. Hutchinson and B. S. Kues. 1985. Depositional environments and paleontology of Lewis Shale to lower Kirtland Shale sequence (Upper Cretaceous), Bisti area, northwestern New Mexico. New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources Circular 195:24-54

K. Carpenter. 1982. Baby dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Lance and Hell Creek formations and a description of a new species of theropod. Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming 20(2):123-134

J. S. McIntosh. 1981. Annotated catalogue of the dinosaurs (Reptilia, Archosauria) in the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History 18:1-67 DOI ↗

C. Lupton, D. Gabriel, and R. M. West. 1980. Paleobiology and depositional setting of a Late Cretaceous vertebrate locality, Hell Creek Formation, McCone County, Montana. Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming 18(2):117-126

H.-D. Sues. 1980. Anatomy and relationships of a new hypsilophodontid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of North America. Palaeontographica Abteilung A 169(1-3):51-72

K. Carpenter. 1979. Vertebrate fauna of the Laramie Formation (Maestrichtian), Weld County, Colorado. Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming 17(1):37-49

W. J. Morris. 1976. Hypsilophodont dinosaurs: a new species and comments on their systematics. in Churcher, C.S. (ed.), Athlon: Essays in Honor of Loris Shano Russell. Royal Ontario Museum Special Publication

P. M. Galton. 1974. Notes on Thescelosaurus, a conservative ornithopod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of North America, with comments on ornithopod classification. Journal of Paleontology 48(5):1048-1067

M. T. Greenwald. 1971. The Lower Vertebrates of the Hell Creek Formation, Harding County, South Dakota.

C. M. Sternberg. 1940. Thescelosaurus edmontonensis, n. sp., and classification of the Hypsilophodontidae. Journal of Paleontology 14(5):481-494

C. W. Gilmore. 1928. Fossil lizards of North America. Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 22(3):1-201

W. A. Parks. 1926. Thescelosaurus warreni, a new species of orthopodous dinosaur from the Edmonton Formation of Alberta. University of Toronto Studies, Geology Series 21:1-42

C. M. Sternberg. 1926. Notes on the Edmonton Formation of Alberta. Canadian Field-Naturalist 40:102-104 DOI ↗

C. M. Sternberg. 1924. Report on a collection of vertebrates from Wood Mountain, southern Saskatchewan, collected by C. M. Sternberg, 1921. Canada Department of Mines Geological Survey Bulletin (Geological Series) 38(43):27-28

C. W. Gilmore. 1915. Osteology of Thescelosaurus, an orthopodous dinosaur from the Lance Formation of Wyoming. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 49(2127):591-616 DOI ↗

C. W. Gilmore. 1913. A new dinosaur from the Lance Formation of Wyoming. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Publications 61(5):1-5

Thescelosauridae

Signaler un problème