Ornithopod dinosaur — Thescelosaurus neglectus

Geologic period: Latest Cretaceous — Maastrichtian

Age: Late Maastrichtian.

Feeding: Herbivorous.

Locomotion: Primarily terrestrial; bipedal locomotion was important.

Body plan: Relatively robust small-to-medium ornithischian with strong hind limbs and a long tail.

Evidence: Skeleton and skull anatomy are direct evidence. The species is documented from the Hell Creek and Lance formations.

Why it matters: Thescelosaurus shows that the final dinosaur communities contained many smaller herbivores beyond the famous Triceratops and Edmontosaurus.

Plain Language Identity: A medium-sized plant-eating neornithischian dinosaur from the latest Cretaceous of North America.

What You Are Looking At: A composite cast representing the skeleton of Thescelosaurus neglectus.

Ecosystem: Latest Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems including the Hell Creek and Lance formations.

Preservation: Visitor object is a composite cast.

Specimen Context Note: The species occurs in both Hell Creek and Lance deposits. The exact source specimen underlying this display cast should not be assumed until positively linked.

Open Questions: Do not assign this cast a specific quarry or locality without specimen-level documentation.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4232843/

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; display reconstruction separated from evidence; provenance uncertainty retained

Scientific name: Thescelosaurus neglectus

Evidence / representation: comparative_taxon_visual

comparative_taxon_visual

T. rex & Triceratops: The Last American Dinosaur World.

Media license: CC0

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en