Galleonosaurus

Galleonosaurus was a dainty, wallaby-sized herbivorous dinosaur that inhabited the polar rift valleys of Victoria, Australia, during the Early Cretaceous, around 125 to 120 million years ago. Named after the upturned hull profile of an ancient Spanish galleon seen in its maxilla, this small ornithopod reached only about two metres in length. It is known from several jaw elements discovered at the Flat Rocks site in the Wonthaggi Formation. As an elasmarian, it belonged to a southern Gondwanan radiation of small bipedal plant-eaters. Galleonosaurus lived in a temperate polar forest subject to freezing winters and prolonged periods of seasonal darkness, surviving on low ferns and shrubs.

Its upper jaw bone resembles the overturned hull of an old sailing galleon.

Where and when

Galleonosaurus lived in the Early Cretaceous, from 125 to 120 million years ago (Barremian-Aptian age). Its remains come from Australia, in the Wonthaggi Formation.

The numbers

Length 1.8 m (estimates run from 1.5 to 2 m). Mass about 19 kg. Hip height about 0.6 m. That is 1.1 human-lengths, or 0.16 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.

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