Thescelosaur Thescelosaurus Assiniboiensis Name Means: ‘Wondrous Lizard’ from ‘The District of Assiniboia’

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Thescelosaur Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis Name means: ‘Wondrous Lizard’ from ‘the District of Assiniboia’. Notable specimen from Saskatchewan: Type Specimen. (A type specimen is the one specimen that is used as reference for the description of a new species) Size: At about 3 m long and just over 1 m tall, Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis is one of the smallest thescelosaur species. It is one of the more common dinosaurs from Saskatchewan, but this species is unique to this province. Geologic Timeline Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis Period Epoch Holocene lived between 65-67 million Pleistocene years ago. In Saskatchewan, Pliocene Age they have been found in the geological unit called the 3 m Frenchman Formation. (23 million years ago - Present) ago years (23 million Geographic range: Miocene The genus Thescelosaurus includes at least three species, and is found from Saskatchewan to New Mexico Habitat: NEOGENE In Saskatchewan: The genus Thescelosaurus is known from southwestern regions, from Grasslands National Park to the Cypress Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis Hills. The species Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis, is known only from the Frenchman River Valley and was first discovered in 1968. lived at the same time as Oligocene Tyrannosaurus rex. This was a time when lush vegetation dominated Saskatchewan, with forests dominated by deciduous conifers and broad leafed, flowering trees. The flora Eocene suggests a warm-temperate ago) years - 23 million (65 million to subtropical climate, with moderate seasonality (although it was never cold enough to freeze). Shallow streams and PALEOGENE rivers would have flowed Paleocene eastward to what remained of the Western Interior Seaway. Late This dinosaur was a herbivore, likely Food shearing tougher plant material with Preference: its bladed, interlocking teeth. (144 million - 65million years ago) years - 65million (144 million Early Thescelosaurus assiniboiensisis known from only one specimen, and that is from Saskatchewan. Currently, there is only one other species CRETACEOUS CRETACEOUS Relations of Thescelosaurus known from Saskatchewan, T. neglectus..

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