Fun Erectopus Facts For Kids

Erectopus superbus were carnivorous dinosaurs and the Erectopus was a basal Allosauroid theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous period of France. The fossil remains were first discovered in the site of Phosphate-bearing beds of La Penthieve at Louppy la chateau in eastern France in the 19th century.

The taxonomical history of the Erectopus is quite muddled. Henri Emil Sauvage in the year 1882, added fossils to a private collection of Louis Pierson.

The first two teeth and vertebra remains were first described by Charles Barrois in 1875 and after that several remains were found by Henry Emile Sauvage. He made them the basis for a new taxon called Megalosaurus superbus.

Fredrich von Huene in 1923 argued after going through the material that it was not possible for this species of dinosaur to be a part of the Megalosaurus genus history. Von Huene created a separate genus called the Erectopus superbus for the fossil remains found.

Von Huene assumed that Sauvage had researched the fossils found by Barrois, which later were found out to be of a different species. He created another species called the Erectopus sauvagei.

Von Huene even declined to use the generic name Erectopus for the first species, indicating it as Gen. indeterm. superbus, which however does not constitute a valid name.

Pierson's private fossil collection was dispersed after his death, with the fossils ending up in a variety of, often unrecorded, locations. Some of the casts were found in the Museum Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle situated in Paris, France, Europe.

The Erectopus dinosaur is called by this binomial name because the name was given based on its foot remains found. The Latin word 'erectus' means 'upright', and 'pous' means 'foot', therefore Erectopus.

Scroll down to read about the Erectopus superbus's life, what they fed on, their habits, and other exciting details! If you want to discover more like the Erectopus, take a look at Condorraptor and Velocisaurus.

Erectopus Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Erectopus'?

The basal Allosauroid theropod dinosaur Erectopus is pronounced as 'E-rek-to-pus'.

What type of dinosaur was an Erectopus?

Erectopus superbus was a carnivorous dinosaur and belonged to the basal Allosauroid theropod dinosaur genus. The fossil remains were first excavated from a site in France and areas near Portugal.

In which geological period did Erectopus roam the Earth?

It belonged to the Lower Cretaceous period from the Barremian Age to Turonian Age.

When did the Erectopus become extinct?

Dinosaurs, in general, went extinct almost 65 million years ago, that is, at the end of the Cretaceous period, after living on the Earth for about 165 million years. This species however belonged to the Lower Cretaceous period from the Barremian Age to Turonian Age.

Where did Erectopus live?

The fossils were excavated from France and near areas of Portugal. The dinosaurs were thought to have been inhabiting present-day Europe.

The fossil remains were discovered in the site of Phosphate-bearing beds of La Penthieve at Louppy la chateau in eastern France in the 19th century. It lived during the Lower Cretaceous period from the Barremian Age to Turonian Age in present-day Europe.

What was the Erectopus' habitat?

Theropod genus dinosaurs were swift predators whose range consisted of areas that had plain land sites and forests. They fed on sauropods and other herbivorous animals and therefore chose terrestrial areas in order to hunt these dinosaurs.

Who did the Erectopus live with?

Fossil evidence points out from both the bone bed and trackways that the theropod genus were gregarious animals that lived and moved in pairs or herds. It made it easier for the species to spot and hunt down smaller dinosaurs.

How long did an Erectopus live?

Dinosaurs belonging to the Allosauroid genus lived for almost 28 years and in the case of the Erectopus dinosaur, the same assumption can be made.

How did they reproduce?

This theropod genus dinosaur much like other reptiles mated with each other during the breeding season and in the case of this breed, the female dinosaur laid eggs. The eggs hatched after a certain period of time and newborn dinosaurs came out.

The adult dinosaurs took care of the newborns until they could move with their parents or go along with their new family.

Erectopus Fun Facts

What did Erectopus look like?

This dinosaur species as diagnosed by Allain had a rounded jawbone with a fixed jaw or vertebra. Allain stated that it had a slender neck and the bone looked similar to a femur.

It also had a posterior curvature towards the center of the body of the femur. The anterodorsal edge of the heel bone was dorsally projected and it was twice as long as deep vertically.

The posteromedial edge of the tibia was connected to the ankle bone. He stated that the length of the second long bone in the foot was half the length of the femur and the lateral margin of the proximal end of the second foot bones was concave.

Allain assumed that the weight of this species was around 440.92 (200 kg) but after several types of research on the fossil material, it was stated that the dinosaur was about 197 in (5 m) in length and 694.45 lb (315 kg)in weight.

How many bones did an Erectopus have?

It's quite difficult to predict or even research the number of bones a dinosaur had until proper fossils are excavated. The Erectopus is one of those dinosaurs that is still being studied and has not been discovered fully, and therefore, finding the number of bones is difficult.

In general, most theropod genus dinosaurs that were carnivorous had stiff tails with bones and bigger foot and huge skulls.

How did they communicate?

There is no specific mention of how they communicated as it is quite difficult to find, but they definitely didn't have modern means of communication. Like any other animal, dinosaurs also communicated by making sounds and using their body language.

They might have included hoots and hollers to communicate. Being ravenous predators, these dinosaur species had a high-pitched growl and it also helped to call for help during hunting.

How big was the Erectopus?

The Erectopus size is about 197 in (5 m) in length and this makes it almost three times bigger than the mountain lion which is about 59 in-108 in (1.5-2.74 m) in length.

How fast could an Erectopus move?

Being bipedal, this theropod genus species could very easily run on their two hind legs and were quite fast enough in comparison to sauropods. Being predators, these dinosaurs were quite fast and could run about 27 mph (43.45 kph). They weren't as fast as the Tyrannotitan but were quite fast for their size.

How much did an Erectopus weigh?

This dinosaur species was almost 694.45 lb (315 kg) in weight which makes them almost two times heavier in size than the pygmy hippopotamus which is about 397–606.2 lb (180–275 kg) in weight.

What were the male and female names of the species?

There is no specific name for the male or female dinosaurs of this species and are commonly known as Erectopus or Erectopus superbus. Until there can be proper excavations of fossils, dinosaurs can't be named differently based on their sex.

What would you call a baby Erectopus?

A newborn dinosaur was known as hatchling or nestling. This was common for most dinosaur species. There is no specific information on the names of newborns for this species as of now.

What did they eat?

This species diet (carnivore) consisted of smaller Sauropods and Stegosaurus like the Deltapodus. The Erectopus was a fast predator and being an Allosaurid theropod dinosaur, it mostly hunted smaller dinosaurs.

How aggressive were they?

Basal Allosauroid theropod dinosaurs are known to have been aggressive dinosaurs as they were predators and hunted on other dinosaurs for food.

Did you know...

The anterior part of the left maxilla as described by Sauvage was found with a dealer based in Paris who had access to it being a fossil dealer and it was purchased by Christian de Muison.

The casts and the incomplete maxilla gave Allain access for a reevaluation of the species and this determined the right taxonomic name for the material to be E.superbus. The maxilla that was recovered was stated to be a lectotype or an anchor to the basal Allosauroid theropod.

It was stated that this dinosaur was the third youngest carnosaur that was known from the European Lower Cretaceous.

Why are they called Erectopus?

The Erectopus dinosaur is called by this binomial name because the name was given based on its foot remains found. The Latin word 'erectus' means 'upright' and 'pous' means 'foot', therefore Erectopus. The name 'superbus' means 'proud' in Latin.

How strong were the Erectopus' teeth?

This species of dinosaurs were voracious predators and fed on other smaller dinosaurs and therefore had very strong and sharp teeth in order to bite into the skin of the dinosaurs.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other dinosaurs from our Streptospondylus facts and Duriavenator facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Erectopus coloring pages.

Main image by

Second image by Greg Goebel from Loveland CO, USA

*We've been unable to source an image of an Erectopus and have used an image of an Allosaurus instead. If you are able to provide us with a royalty-free image of an Erectopus, we would be happy to credit you. Please contact us at hello@kidadl.com.