page_title: List of North American dinosaurs
hierarchical_section_title: List of North American dinosaurs
caption_attribution_description: Head of Gryposaurus notabilis, a hadrosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America, pencil drawing
context_page_description: This is a list of dinosaurs whose remains have been recovered from North America.
  North America has a rich dinosaur fossil record with great diversity of dinosaurs. This may not mean the dinosaurs were more diverse or abundant; it may be because substantial resources have been devoted to the North American fossil record.
  The Middle Jurassic is the only poorly represented time period in North America, although several Middle Jurassic localities are known from Mexico. Footprints, eggshells, teeth, and fragments of bone representing theropods, sauropods, and ornithopods have been found, but none of them are diagnostic to the genus level.
  The Upper Jurassic of North America, however, is the exact opposite of the Middle Jurassic. The Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation is found in several U.S. states, including Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas. It is notable as being the most fertile single source of dinosaur fossils in the world.
  During the Lower Cretaceous, new dinosaurs appeared. Sauropods were still present, but they were not as diverse as they were in the Jurassic.
context_section_description: This is a list of dinosaurs whose remains have been recovered from North America. 
  North America has a rich dinosaur fossil record with great diversity of dinosaurs. This may not mean the dinosaurs were more diverse or abundant; it may be because substantial resources have been devoted to the North American fossil record.
  The Middle Jurassic is the only poorly represented time period in North America, although several Middle Jurassic localities are known from Mexico. Footprints, eggshells, teeth, and fragments of bone representing theropods, sauropods, and ornithopods have been found, but none of them are diagnostic to the genus level. 
  The Upper Jurassic of North America, however, is the exact opposite of the Middle Jurassic. The Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation is found in several U.S. states, including Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas. It is notable as being the most fertile single source of dinosaur fossils in the world.  
  During the Lower Cretaceous, new dinosaurs appeared. Sauropods were still present, but they were not as diverse as they were in the Jurassic. Theropods from the early Cretaceous of North America include dromaeosaurs such as Deinonychus and Utahraptor, Acrocanthosaurus, and Microvenator. Sauropods included Astrodon, Pleurocoelus, and Sauroposeidon. Ornithischians were more diverse than they were in the Jurassic Period. Tenontosaurus, Hypsilophodon, Iguanodon, Protohadros, and Eolambia are some of the ornithopods that lived then. Ankylosaurs replaced their stegosaur cousins in the Cretaceous. Ankylosaurs from the early Cretaceous of North America include Sauropelta and Gastonia. Therizinosaurs such as Falcarius are also known from the early Cretaceous of North America.
  Finally, in the long Upper Cretaceous, the greatest abundance and diversity of dinosaurs of all time lived in North America. During the early part of the Upper Cretaceous, the therizinosaur Nothronychus and the ceratopsian Zuniceratops lived. During the Campanian stage (83.6–72 mya), an enormous diversity of dinosaurs is known. Theropods included the tyrannosaurs Albertosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Daspletosaurus, Appalachiosaurus, and Dryptosaurus, and the dromaeosaurids Dromaeosaurus, Saurornitholestes, Atrociraptor, and Bambiraptor. Ceratopsians, such as Pachyrhinosaurus, Styracosaurus, Centrosaurus Monoclonius, Brachyceratops, Pentaceratops, and Leptoceratops also existed. Among hadrosaurs, Parasaurolophus, Corythosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Saurolophus, and Prosaurolophus existed. 
  During the latest Cretaceous, the Maastrichtian stage (72–65.5 mya), the diversity of dinosaurs wasn't as great as the preceding Campanian stage. North American herbivorous dinosaurs then included the titanosaur sauropod Alamosaurus, the ceratopsians Triceratops and Torosaurus, the pachycephalosaurs Pachycephalosaurus, Stygimoloch, Dracorex, and Stegoceras, the hadrosaurs Edmontosaurus and Anatotitan. Predatory dinosaurs from this time period included Tyrannosaurus and Nanotyrannus (which may just be a juvenile of the former), and the troodontid Troodon.
caption: Gryposaurus.
exif: {}