Eolambia

Eolambia was a basal hadrosauroid that roamed floodplains in modern-day Utah during the early Late Cretaceous period. It was named after Carol Jones, who discovered the first fossil quarry with her husband Ramal Jones. Initially hailed as the most primitive hollow-crested duckbill, hence its name meaning dawn Lambe's lizard, later discoveries of more complete adult skulls demonstrated that it lacked a hollow crest altogether and instead branched off lower down the hadrosauroid evolutionary tree. Measuring around six to seven metres in length, Eolambia was a moderately robust browser. Its teeth formed grinding pavements adapted for breaking down tough foliage, and its limbs allowed both bipedal strides and quadupedal resting.

Originally thought to be the earliest lambeosaurine, it was later confirmed to be a basal hadrosauroid.

Where and when

Eolambia lived in the Late Cretaceous, from 99 to 95 million years ago (Cenomanian age). Its remains come from United States, in the Cedar Mountain Formation.

The numbers

Length 6.5 m (estimates run from 6 to 7 m). Mass about 1.5 t. Hip height about 2.1 m. That is 3.8 human-lengths, or 0.58 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

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