Atlascopcosaurus

Atlascopcosaurus was a small herbivorous ornithopod discovered at Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia. Existing around 120 to 110 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous, it lived within the southern polar circle where frigid winter conditions prevailed. Reaching an estimated length of two to three metres, this bipedal browser was roughly comparable in size to a modern kangaroo. The genus was named to thank the Atlas Copco company for donating rock-drilling equipment to unearth the difficult coastal deposits. Known primarily from upper and lower jaw fragments, Atlascopcosaurus browsed on undergrowth, coexisting alongside other small endemic ornithopods and primitive theropods in an ancient, seasonally chilly floodplain.

It was named in honour of an industrial equipment company that provided excavation gear to the researchers.

Where and when

Atlascopcosaurus lived in the Early Cretaceous, from 120 to 110 million years ago (Aptian-Albian age). Its remains come from Australia, in the Eumeralla Formation.

The numbers

Length 2.5 m (estimates run from 2 to 3 m). Mass about 28 kg. Hip height about 0.8 m. That is 1.5 human-lengths, or 0.22 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from fragmentary remains; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, first ma, last ma, hip height.

Compare Atlascopcosaurus with a bus Place on the timeline