Protohadros

{{short description|Extinct genus of dinosaurs}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = Late Cretaceous, {{fossilrange|Cenomanian}}

| display_parents = 2

| taxon = Protohadros

| authority = Head, 1998

| type_species = Protohadros byrdi

| type_species_authority = Head, 1998

}}

Protohadros (meaning "first hadrosaur") is a genus of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian stage).

Gary Byrd, a part-time palaeontologist, discovered some remains of this euornithopod (ribs and an ungual) during early 1994 at Flower Mound, Denton County, north-central Texas. He informed professional palaeontologist Yuong-Nam Lee of the find, who arranged for the entire preserved fossil to be excavated. It was first reported upon in 1996 by Jason Head of the Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Southern Methodist University.J.J. Head, 1996, "A primitive hadrosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Cenomanian of Texas and its implications for hadrosaurian phylogenetic and biogeographic histories", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 16(3, supplement): 40A The type species Protohadros byrdi was described and named by Head in 1998. The genus name is derived from Greek πρῶτος, protos, "first", en ἁδρός, hadros, "thick", a reference to the fact that Head considered the species the oldest known hadrosaur. The specific name honours Byrd.{{cite journal |last1=Head |first1=Jason J. |title=A new species of basal hadrosaurid (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Cenomanian of Texas |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |date=28 December 1998 |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=718–738 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1998.10011101|bibcode=1998JVPal..18..718H }}

The holotype, specimen SMU 74582, of Protohadros, was found in the Woodbine Formation, which dates to the middle Cenomanian. It consists of a partial skull, pieces of ribs, a hand ungual and a neural arch. In 1997 Lee named possible tracks of Protohadros as the ichnospecies Caririchnium protohadrosaurichnos.{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Yuong-Nam |title=Bird and dinosaur footprints in the Woodbine Formation (Cenomanian), Texas |journal=Cretaceous Research |date=December 1997 |volume=18 |issue=6 |pages=849–864 |doi=10.1006/cres.1997.0091 |bibcode=1997CrRes..18..849L |url=https://doc.rero.ch/record/14447/files/PAL_E1632.pdf |archive-date=2024-08-20 |access-date=2024-08-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820055142/https://doc.rero.ch/record/14447/files/PAL_E1632.pdf |url-status=live }}