What is Abrictosaurus?
Q: What is Abrictosaurus?
A: Abrictosaurus is a small bipedal herbivore or omnivore dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic of southern Africa, weighing less than 45 kilograms and about 1.2 meters long.
Q: What family does Abrictosaurus belong to?
A: Abrictosaurus is usually thought to be the most basal member of the family Heterodontosauridae.
Q: How are the cheek teeth of Abrictosaurus different from Lycorhinus and Heterodontosaurus?
A: Lycorhinus and Heterodontosaurus both had high-crowned cheek teeth which went over each other in the jaw, making a continuous chewing surface, while Abrictosaurus had more widely-split cheek teeth with lower crowns, more similar to other early ornithischians.
Q: Did Abrictosaurus have tusks?
A: Yes, tusks were clearly present on one of the two specimens of Abrictosaurus. The upper caniniform measured 10.5 millimeters high, while the lower reached 17mm.
Q: How do the forelimbs of Abrictosaurus compare to Heterodontosaurus?
A: Abrictosaurus had smaller, less powerful forelimbs than Heterodontosaurus and one fewer phalanx bone (finger joint) in both the fourth and fifth digits of the forelimb.
Q: When did Abrictosaurus live?
A: Abrictosaurus lived during the Lower Jurassic period in southern Africa.
Q: What was the size of Abrictosaurus?
A: Abrictosaurus was about 1.2 meters long (4 feet) and weighed less than 45 kilograms (100 pounds).
