I'm back with new art! A portrait of the hadrosauroid Cariocecus bocagei from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal. Its partial, articulated skull was discovered in 2016 in the Barremian layers of the Papo Seco Formation. This is the first iguanodontian skull discovered in Portugal. It is distinguished by its low profile and the absence of the crest characteristic of some related dinosaurs. Like many other ornithopods, it had a palpebral bone, which served as a support for soft tissue that overhung the eye and protected it from damage and sunlight. The skull, including missing bones, was approximately 42 cm long, making the dinosaur of average size. However, since the sutures between almost all the skull bones are not fused, the animal was not yet fully grown at the time of death. The name comes from the Iberian and Lusitanian god of war, Cariocecus.
Krita, 2025.
