Enigmacursor

Pronunciation:
ee-NIG-ma-kur-sor
Name meaning:
'Puzzling or mysterious runner'
Type of dinosaur:
small ornithischian
Length:
1.8m
Diet:
herbivorous
When it lived:
Late Jurassic, 152-145 million years ago
Found in:
USA

Enigmacursor was a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived in prehistoric North America during the Late Jurassic Period. With its relatively long legs and large feet, it would have been able to move quickly.

It lived alongside some well-known dinosaurs such as Diplodocus, Allosaurus and Stegosaurus.

Enigmacursor is known from one specimen that’s unusually complete for a dinosaur of this type. Despite this, we don’t have a full skeleton – the skull and some other bones are still unknown.

Where did Enigmacursor live?

Enigmacursor was found in the Colorado part of the Morrison Formation – a well-known fossil site that spans many western states in the USA.

It would have lived on floodplains and alongside rivers and eaten plants such as ferns and cycads.

What does Enigmacursor mean?

The name Enigmacursor is formed from the word ‘enigma’, meaning puzzle or mystery, and ‘cursor’, the Latin word for ‘runner’.

‘Enigma’ refers to historic confusion around the study of small-bodied herbivorous dinosaurs from the Morrison Formation.

Previously, researchers thought there were many different dinosaurs of this type in the area. They’d given them names such as Nanosaurus, Laosaurus and Drinker.

Our scientists were able to show that none of the fossils associated with these dinosaurs were actually distinct enough and concluded that the names shouldn’t be used.

We now know that only the Enigmacursor specimen is unique enough to be given a name.

The dinosaur’s full name is Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae. It references Molly Lowell Borthwick, who along with her husband David, made a generous donation to help us acquire what’s currently the only confirmed specimen of this dinosaur.

You can see Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae on our Earth Hall Mezzanine.

Taxonomic details

Taxonomy:
Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Neornithischia
Named by:
Maidment and Barrett (2025)
Type species:
mollyborthwickae

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