Tenontosaurus

Tenontosaurus is a genus of iguanodontian ornithopod dinosaur. It had an unusually long, broad tail, which like its back was stiffened with a network of bony tendons. The genus is known from the late Aptian to Albian ages of the Early Cretaceous period sediments of western North America, dating between 115 and 108 million years ago. It contains two species, Tenontosaurus tilletti and Tenontosaurus dossi. Many specimens of T. tilletti have been collected from several geological formations throughout western North America. T. dossi is known from only a handful of specimens collected from the Twin Mountains Formation of Parker County, Texas.

Tenontosaurus

Rodney · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
TenontosauridaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ornithopoda
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB, for Ornithischia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Ornithischia
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Ornithischia
Length
7 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 6.9 million years on record.

The record covers at least 113.2 Mya to 106.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 121.4 Mya to 93.9 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 76 of 83 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 7 of 83 occurrencesLate Cretaceous122–121 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences121–120 Mya — about 1 occurrence120–119 Mya — about 2 occurrences119–118 Mya — about 3 occurrences118–117 Mya — about 3 occurrences117–116 Mya — about 3 occurrences116–115 Mya — about 3 occurrences115–114 Mya — about 3 occurrences114–113 Mya — about 3 occurrences113–112 Mya — about 4 occurrences112–111 Mya — about 4 occurrences111–111 Mya — about 4 occurrences111–110 Mya — about 4 occurrences110–109 Mya — about 4 occurrences109–108 Mya — about 4 occurrences108–107 Mya — about 4 occurrences107–106 Mya — about 4 occurrences106–105 Mya — about 4 occurrences105–104 Mya — about 4 occurrences104–103 Mya — about 4 occurrences103–102 Mya — about 4 occurrences102–101 Mya — about 4 occurrences101–100 Mya — about 3 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 1 occurrence99–98 Mya — about 1 occurrence98–97 Mya — about 1 occurrence97–96 Mya — about 1 occurrence96–95 Mya — about 1 occurrence95–94 Mya — about 1 occurrence94–93 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences113.2 Mya106.3 Mya122 Mya93.3 Mya

83 occurrences of Tenontosaurus on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

83 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Cloverly — 45.44°N, 108.14°WCloverly — 45.44°N, 108.16°WCloverly — 46.34°N, 109.69°WCloverly — 45.49°N, 108.52°WCloverly — 44.49°N, 107.86°WCloverly — 44.96°N, 108.30°WCloverly — 45.12°N, 108.71°WCloverly — 45.15°N, 108.73°WCloverly — 45.20°N, 108.81°WCloverly — 43.19°N, 107.69°WCloverly — 45.36°N, 108.81°WCloverly — 45.34°N, 108.81°WCloverly — 45.45°N, 108.10°WCloverly — 45.38°N, 108.26°WCloverly — 45.41°N, 108.04°WCloverly — 46.27°N, 109.89°WCloverly — 44.66°N, 107.89°WCloverly — 46.33°N, 109.56°WAntlers — 33.28°N, 97.62°WAntlers — 33.50°N, 97.58°WAntlers — 34.15°N, 95.82°WAntlers — 34.40°N, 96.10°WCedar Mountain — 39.18°N, 110.11°WCedar Mountain — 38.50°N, 111.25°WCedar Mountain — 38.83°N, 109.27°WCedar Mountain — 40.50°N, 109.36°WShellenberger Canyon — 31.84°N, 110.68°WShellenberger Canyon — 31.84°N, 110.49°WArundel Clay — 39.17°N, 76.79°WArundel Clay — 39.07°N, 76.87°WTwin Mountains — 32.76°N, 97.89°WWayan — 42.99°N, 111.29°WPaluxy — 33.19°N, 97.43°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Tenontosaurus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Tenontosaurus and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Tenontosaurus and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

140 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 82 sites for Tenontosaurus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

19 references

Each of the 83 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 7 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Tenontosaurus

Credit
Rodney
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Tenontosaurus tilletti · MCZ:VP:VPRA-4205

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTenontosauridae through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Ostrom 1970