Dinosaur facts and figures
Here are some of the coolest dinosaur factoids you can get out of the Paleobiology Database, useful or not. Most of the data are based on Matt Carrano's non-avian dinosaur systematics archive.
Technical note: birds are dinosaurs. However, birds are not included in any of the following because, well, they're birds.
Collections with the most dinosaurs
- Tafilalt region (NMC)
- 1879-1887 Reed's Quarry 13, Como Bluff (YPM)
- Careless Creek Quarry (CCQ)
- Jack's Birthday Site, MOR TM-068
- Dry Mesa Quarry, BYU 1971-1990
- 1877-1901 Felch Quarry 1, Garden Park (YPM)
- MOR TM-013, Landslide Butte
- 1989- Wadi Abu Hashim, Wadi Milk vertebrates
- Kansai, FKA-7a
- Lead Slug Hill 1, UCMP V-72208
Collections from the farthest ends of the Earth
Based on paleocoordinates.
Farthest north: Colville River Campanian dinosaurs
Farthest south: Huriwai Measures
Farthest east: Meoto-sugi dinosaur footprint
Farthest west: Kakanaut, Lake Pekulnei
Formations with the most dinosaur occurrences
- Morrison (633)
- Dinosaur Park (473)
- Hell Creek (444)
- Fruitland/Kirtland (257)
- Oldman (229)
- Portland (172)
- Lance (166)
- Cloverly (141)
- Two Medicine (126)
- Judith River (118)
Countries with the most dinosaur occurrences
- United States (3212)
- Canada (1010)
- China (533)
- Spain (353)
- France (263)
- United Kingdom (252)
- Mongolia (246)
- Argentina (224)
- Uzbekistan (180)
- Korea, Republic of (166)
Most frequently used names
- Theropoda (727 occurrences)
- Dinosauria (631)
- Hadrosauridae (484)
- Sauropoda (395)
- Ceratopsidae (193)
- Dromaeosauridae (120)
- Ceratopsia (109)
- Tyrannosauridae (107)
- Carnosauria (97)
- Coelurosauria (93)
Papers that named the most species
- Galton 1990 (8)
- Wilson and Upchurch 2003 (6)
- Zhen et al. 1989 (6)
- Olsen and Rainforth 2003 (6)
- Dong 1992 (5)
- Holtz, Jr. 1994 (4)
- Zhang and Chen 1996 (4)
- Upchurch and Martin 2003 (4)
- Sereno 1986 (3)
- Walker 1964 (3)
- Gilmore 1920 (3)
- Carpenter 1992 (3)
- Blows 1998 (3)
- Russell 1930 (3)
- Janensch 1929 (3)
- Galton 1980 (3)
- Galton 1984 (3)
- McIntosh 1990 (3)
- Powell 2003 (3)
- Holtz, Jr. et al. 2004 (3)
Most discussed species
Based on the number of published taxonomic opinions.
- Tyrannosaurus rex (42)
- Gorgosaurus libratus (36)
- Troodon formosus (36)
- Iguanodon mantelli (35)
- Megalosaurus bucklandii (34)
- Hypsilophodon foxii (33)
- Iguanodon bernissartensis (33)
- Hadrosaurus foulkii (32)
- Albertosaurus sarcophagus (28)
- Titanosaurus indicus (27)
- Brachiosaurus brancai (27)
Species with the most synonymous names
- Triceratops horridus (10)
- Corythosaurus casuarius (8)
- Tarbosaurus bataar (8)
- Struthiosaurus austriacus (7)
- Camptosaurus dispar (6)
- Gorgosaurus libratus (6)
- Stegosaurus armatus (5)
- Camarasaurus supremus (5)
- Tyrannosaurus rex (5)
- Ornithomimus edmontonicus (5)
Species with the longest names
- Micropachycephalosaurus hongtuyanensis (38 characters)
- Frenguellisaurus ischigualastensis (34)
- Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis (33)
- Caririchnium protohadrosaurichnos (33)
- Psittacosaurus protiguanodonensis (33)
- Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei (32)
- Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis (32)
- Archaeornithoides deinosauriscus (32)
- Chinshakiangosaurus chunghoensis (32)
- Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis (31)
- Shanyangosaurus niupanggouensis (31)
- Shanshanosaurus huoyanshanensis (31)
- Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis (31)
- Probactrosaurus mazongshanensis (31)
- Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis (31)
- Archaeornithomimus bissektensis (31)
Species with the weirdest names
Based on a very tasty secret formula.
- Suuwassea emilieae (6.43 points)
- Edmarka rex (6.37)
- Harpymimus okladnikovi (6.31)
- Dracopelta zbyszewskii (6.26)
- Zalmoxes shqiperorum (6.24)
- Otozoum pollex (6.17)
- Nedcolbertia justinhoffmanni (6.11)
- Shixinggia oblita (6.10)
- Lewisuchus admixtus (6.07)
- Becklespinax altispinax (6.04)
Species with the dullest names
Based on almost the same very tasty secret formula.
- Dilophosaurus sinensis (4.34 points)
- Ouranosaurus nigeriensis (4.45)
- Orosaurus capensis (4.47)
- Barosaurus lentus (4.47)
- Psittacosaurus sinensis (4.48)
- Plateosaurus trossingensis (4.49)
- Emausaurus ernsti (4.55)
- Gyposaurus sinensis (4.57)
- Torosaurus latus (4.57)
- Chasmosaurus mariscalensis (4.58)
Species named per decade
- 1820s: 2
- 1830s: 5
- 1840s: 10
- 1850s: 8
- 1860s: 7
- 1870s: 60
- 1880s: 39
- 1890s: 31
- 1900s: 40
- 1910s: 49
- 1920s: 53
- 1930s: 53
- 1940s: 22
- 1950s: 31
- 1960s: 24
- 1970s: 79
- 1980s: 86
- 1990s: 155
- 2000s: 173
The first species ever named
- Steneosaurus rostromajor (1825)
- Iguanodon anglicum (1829)
- Megalosaurus bucklandii (1832)
- Iguanodon mantelli (1832)
- Streptospondylus altdorfensis (1832)
- Hylaeosaurus armatus (1833)
- Plateosaurus engelhardti (1837)
- Poekilopleuron bucklandii (1837)
- Sauroidichnites barrattii (1837)
- Iguanodon major (1842)
- Streptospondylus major (1842)
- Cetiosaurus brachyurus (1842)
- Thecodontosaurus antiquus (1843)
- Hylaeosaurus oweni (1844)
- Cardiodon rugulosus (1844)
Species named in 2006 and 2007
Silly as they may seem.
- Adamantisaurus mezzalirai
- Aeolosaurus colhuehuapensis
- Albertaceratops nesmoi
- Allosaurus europaeus
- Aniksosaurus darwini
- Antarctopelta oliveroi
- Australodocus bohetii
- Cedrorestes crichtoni
- Dracorex hogwartsia
- Eocursor parvus
- Erketu ellisoni
- Europasaurus holgeri
- Gigantoraptor erlianensis
- Guanlong wucaii
- Juravenator starki
- Koutalisaurus kohlerorum
- Ligabuesaurus leanzai
- Mapusaurus roseae
- Maxakalisaurus topai
- Oryctodromeus cubicularis
- Psittacosaurus major
- Shanag ashile
- Sonidosaurus saihangaobiensis
- Theiophytalia kerri
- Tsaagan mangas
- Turiasaurus riodevensis
- Urbacodon itemirensis
- Yamaceratops dorngobiensis
- Yinlong downsi
- Yuanmousaurus jiangyiensis
- Zapalasaurus bonapartei