Dinosaurs - Psittacosaurus sinensis
Scientific name: Psittacosaurus sinensis
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Psittacosaurus sinensis is one of the earliest known ceratopsian dinosaurs.
Image: James Reece
© Australian Museum
© Australian Museum
Fast Facts
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Classification
- Genus
- Psittacosaurus
- Species
- sinensis
- Family
- Psittacosauridae
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- Feeding Habits
- herbivore
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View Fossil Record
- Fossil Record
- Cretaceous Period
(141 million years ago - 65 million years ago)
Psittacosaurus sinensis was a small, herbivorous dinosaur which lived around 126 to 101 million years ago. It is one of the earliest known ceratopsian dinosaurs. It was named after the Latin word for parrot, Psittacus, as it had a parrot-like beak.
Feeding and diet
Psittacosaurus sinensis was a plant-eater that had:
- a curved, parrot-like beak that helped it to pry open fleshy cones and seeds
- short forelegs that it used for grasping foliage.
Evolutionary relationships
Psittacosaurus sinensis was a primitive horned dinosaur or ceratopsian. It belonged to the Asian family Psittacosauridae, several species of which lived during the Early Cretaceous.
