Genus
Valid Extinct

Hypacrosaurus

Brown 1913
Etymology Reptile presque le plus haut

Hypacrosaurus is an extinct genus of duckbill dinosaur similar in appearance to Corythosaurus. Like Corythosaurus, it had a tall, hollow rounded crest, although not as large and straight. It is known from the remains of two species that spanned 75.0 to 69.5 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada, and Montana, United States, and is the latest hollow-crested duckbill known from good remains in North America. It was an obscure genus until the discovery in 1987 of nests, eggs, and hatchlings belonging to H. stebingeri in the Bear Paw Formation.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
37
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial
Hypacrosaurus
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Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
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Ornithischia Unranked clade
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Neornithischia Unranked clade
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Pyrodontia Unranked clade
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Cerapoda Unranked clade
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Ornithopoda Suborder
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Iguanodontia Infraorder
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Euiguanodontia Unranked clade
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Dryomorpha Unranked clade
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Ankylopollexia Unranked clade
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Styracosterna Unranked clade
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Hadrosauriformes Unranked clade
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Hadrosauroidea Unranked clade
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Hadrosauridae Family
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Lambeosaurinae Subfamily
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Corythosaurini Tribe
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Hypacrosaurus Genus
Measurements
Length
10,4 m ⓘ
Hypacrosaurus altispinus — min connu
10,5 m ⓘ
Hypacrosaurus stebingeri  — max connu
9 m ⓘ
Mass
5 300 kg ⓘ
Hypacrosaurus altispinus — min connu
5 500 kg ⓘ
Hypacrosaurus stebingeri  — max connu
Fossil sites 37 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇨🇦 Canada
22
🇺🇸 United States
15
Geological formations
Two Medicine
16
Horseshoe Canyon
11
Oldman
2
Dinosaur Park
1
Temporal distribution
Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)
12
Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)
25
Species (3)
Cheneosaurus tolmanensis subjective synonym of Hypacrosaurus altispinus 84 Ma
Hypacrosaurus altispinus 84 Ma
Hypacrosaurus stebingeri 84 Ma
Synonyms (1)
Cheneosaurus subjective synonym of Hypacrosaurus
News 1
Corythosaurus: Beast of the Week
Corythosaurus: Beast of the Week
crest Canada Canardia Corythosaurus Dinosauria +6
This week we will take a look at a well known duckbill dinosaur.  Enter Corythosaurus!  Corythosaurus was a plant eater that belonged to the lambiosaurine group within the family, Hadrosauridae. (duckbills)  Lambiosaurine hadrosaurs typically had hollow crests on their heads and narrower beaks compared to other kinds hadrosaurs.  It was closely related to other lambiosaurine hadrosaurs such as Parasaurolophus, Hypacrosaurus, Lambeosaurus, and Velafrons.  It lived in what is now Alberta, Canada,
15/02/2026 prehistoricbeastoftheweek
Images 2
Bibliography
Original description
B. Brown. 1913. A new trachodont dinosaur, Hypacrosaurus, from the Edmonton Cretaceous of Alberta. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 32(20):395-406
Bibliography (12)
M. T. Carrano. 2015. Fossil Vertebrate Collections, American Museum of Natural History
K. S. Brink, D. K. Zelenitsky, and D. C. Evans, J. R. Horner, F. Therrien. 2014. Cranial morphology and variation in Hypacrosaurus stebingeri (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae). Hadrosaurs
P. R. Bell and K. S. Brink. 2013. Kazaklambia convincens comb. nov., a primitive juvenile lambeosaurine from the Santonian of Kazakhstan. Cretaceous Research 45:265-274 DOI ↗
K. S. Brink, D. K. Zelenitsky, and D. C. Evans, F. Therrien, J. R. Horner. 2011. A sub-adult skull of Hypacrosaurus stebingeri (Ornithischia: Lambeosaurinae): anatomy and comparison. Historical Biology 23(1):63-72 DOI ↗
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 ↗
M. T. Carrano. 2006. Fossil Vertebrate Collections, Museum of the Rockies
J. R. Horner and P. J. Currie. 1994. Embryonic and neonatal morphology and ontogeny of a new species of Hypacrosaurus (Ornithischia, Lambeosauridae) from Montana and Alberta. Dinosaur Eggs and Babies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
D. A. Russell and T. P. Chamney. 1967. Notes on the biostratigraphy of dinosaurian and microfossil faunas in the Edmonton Formation (Cretaceous), Alberta. National Museum of Canada Natural History Papers 35:1-22
R. S. Lull and N. E. Wright. 1942. Hadrosaurian dinosaurs of North America. Geological Society of America Special Paper 40:1-242 DOI ↗
C. W. Gilmore. 1924. On the skull and skeleton of Hypacrosaurus, a helmet-crested dinosaur from the Edmonton Cretaceous of Alberta. Canada Department of Mines Geological Survey Bulletin (Geological Series) 38(43):48-64 DOI ↗
L. M. Lambe. 1917. On Cheneosaurus tolmanensis, a new genus and species of trachodont dinosaur from the Edmonton Cretaceous of Alberta. The Ottawa Naturalist 30(10):117-123
B. Brown. 1913. A new trachodont dinosaur, Hypacrosaurus, from the Edmonton Cretaceous of Alberta. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 32(20):395-406