Saurolophus fossil map
Where fossils of Saurolophus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 66 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 66 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Iguanodonts & duck-bills |
|---|---|
| Lived | 83.6–66 million years ago (Campanian to Maastrichtian) |
| Periods | Cretaceous |
| Family | Hadrosauridae |
| Named by | Brown 1912 |
| Fossil records | 38 occurrences at 29 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Mongolia, Canada, United States |
| Rock formations | Nemegt, Horseshoe Canyon, txn:38755, Almond, Kirtland, Oldman |
About Saurolophus
Saurolophus (; meaning "lizard crest") is a genus of large hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period of North America and Asia, in what is now the Horseshoe Canyon and Nemegt formations respectively (about 71.5 to 66 million years ago). It is one of the few dinosaur genera known from multiple continents. The type species, S. osborni, was described by Barnum Brown in 1912 from Canadian fossils. A second valid species, S. angustirostris, is represented by numerous specimens from Mongolia, and was described by Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky. Saurolophus is distinguished by a spike-like crest which projects up and back from the skull. It was a herbivorous dinosaur which could move either bipedally or quadrupedally.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Saurolophus (revision 1378428788), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 22 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q131096.
