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Saurolophus

Saurolophus (/sɔːˈrɒləfəs/; meaning "lizard crest") is a genus of large hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of Asia and North America, that lived in what is now the Horseshoe Canyon and Nemegt formations about 70 million to 66 million years ago. It is one of the few genera of dinosaurs known from multiple continents. The type species, S. osborni, was described by Barnum Brown in 1912 from Canadian fossils. A second valid species, S. angustirostris, is represented by numerous specimens from Mongolia, and was described by Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky.

Saurolophus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
~70–66 Ma
Mounted S. angustirostris skeleton at Nagoya City Science Museum
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Family: Hadrosauridae
Subfamily: Saurolophinae
Tribe: Saurolophini
Genus: Saurolophus
Brown, 1912
Type species
Saurolophus osborni
Brown, 1912
Other species

Saurolophus is distinguished by a spike-like crest which projects up and back from the skull. It was a herbivorous dinosaur which could move about either bipedally or quadrupedally.

Discovery and history edit

 
Photo from the excavation of S. osborni in 1911

Barnum Brown recovered the first described remains of Saurolophus in 1911, including a nearly complete skeleton (AMNH 5220). Now on display in the American Museum of Natural History, this skeleton was the first nearly complete dinosaur skeleton from Canada. It was found in rocks of early Maastrichtian age, in the Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation (then known as the Edmonton Formation) near Tolman Ferry on the Red Deer River in Alberta. Brown wasted little time in describing his material,[1][2] giving it its own subfamily.[3] Saurolophus was an important early reference for other hadrosaurs, as seen in the names of Prosaurolophus ("before Saurolophus") and Parasaurolophus ("near Saurolophus"). However, little additional material has been recovered and described.

Instead, more abundant remains from Asia have provided more data. Initial remains were not promising; a partial fragmentary ischium from Heilongjiang, China, that Riabinin named S. kryschtofovici.[4] Much better remains were soon recovered, though, but from Mongolia's early Maastrichtian-age Nemegt Formation. The 1946–1949 Russian-Mongolian paleontological expeditions recovered the large skeleton that became S. angustirostris as described by Anatoly Rozhdestvensky.[5] Other skeletons from a variety of growth stages have also been discovered, and S. angustirostris is now the most abundant Asian hadrosaurid.[6]

Species edit

 
A photograph of the panel mount of the holotype of S. osborni, from Barnum Brown, 1913

Two species are regarded as valid today: the type species S. osborni, and S. angustirostris. S. osborni (Brown, 1912) is known from a skull and skeleton, two other complete skulls, and skull fragments. S. angustirostris (Rozhdestvensky, 1952) is known from at least 15 specimens.[7] It differs from S. osborni by some details of the skull, as well as in the pattern of scales found in skin impressions. The Mongolian species had a longer skull (by 20%) and the front of the snout (the premaxillary bones) were more upwardly directed.[8] S. angustirostris also had a distinctive row of rectangular scales along the midline of the back and tail, known as 'midline feature-scales'; these are not currently preserved in S. osborni. In S. angustirostris, the scales on the tail flank were arranged in vertical patterns, which may have corresponded to striped coloration in life. This area was covered in radial scale patterns in S. osborni, possibly indicating a more mottled or spotted coloration.[9]

 
Skulls in Moscow Paleontological Museum

S. kryschtofovici (Riabinin, 1930) is not considered valid; either it is regarded as a dubious name,[10][7] or as a synonym of S. angustirostris[6] (although the name antedates S. angustirostris).[11]

Until a 2011 reevaluation of the species by Phil R. Bell, S. angustirostris was not well-described. No autapomorphies, unique derived traits, had been established distinguishing it from S. osborni. Bell found in a publication earlier in the year that the two previous studies of S. angustirostris, by Rozhdestvensky in 1952, and Maryanska and Osmolska in 1981, do not provide a comprehensive enough description to compare the species with S. osborni.[8]

In 1939–40, two partial skeletons were found in the late Maastrichtian age Moreno Formation of California. These specimens were referred to cf. Saurolophus sp. In 2010, one of the skulls was instead assigned to Edmontosaurus.[12] A 2013 study placed the two specimens in a new species, S. morrisi.[11] In 2014, the species was reassigned to a new genus, Augustynolophus.[13]

Description edit

 
The size of the two Saurolophus species compared to humans

Saurolophus is known from material including nearly complete skeletons, giving researchers a clear picture of its bony anatomy. S. osborni, the rarer Albertan species, was around 8.2–8.5 m (27–28 ft) long, with its skull 1.0 m (3.3 ft) long.[14][15] It has been estimated to have weighed around 3 tonnes (3.0 long tons; 3.3 short tons).[15] S. angustirostris, the Mongolian species, was larger; it got as large as 13 m (43 ft) in length, and larger remains are reported. It has been estimated to have potentially weighed up to 11 tonnes (11 long tons; 12 short tons).[15] The largest known skull of S.angustirostris measures 1.22 m (4.0 ft) in length.[8] Aside from size, the two species are virtually identical, with differentiation hindered by lack of study.[10]

Skull edit

 
Diagram with labelled skulls of S. angustirostris (A) and S. osborni (B)

The most distinctive feature of Saurolophus is its cranial crest, which is present in young individuals, but is smaller. It is long and spike-like and projects upward and backward at about a 45° angle, starting from over the eyes. This crest is often described as solid, but appears to be solid only at the point, with internal chambers that may have had a respiratory and/or heat-regulation function.[16] The unique crest of Saurolophus is made up almost completely by the nasal bones, and in S. angustirostris it is solid.[clarification needed] In adult specimens the crests are a rounded triangular shape in cross section. The crest protrudes past the edge of the skull backwards. Thin processes from the frontals and prefrontals extend along the underside of the crest, probably to strengthen it. At the end of the crest is a swelling of the nasal, which is often termed differently.[8]

 
Restoration of S. angustirostris
 
Restoration of S. osborni

The holotype of S. angustirostris is a skull and postcrania, so the cranium of the species is well-described. Bell et al. re-evaluated the entire species in a 2011 publication with Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. Their description found the skull to be generalized among hadrosaurines, and are much larger than any skulls of S. osborni. The most unusual feature for a hadrosaurine is the long, protruding, solid crest that extends upwards diagonally from the back of the skull roof. Unlike lambeosaurines, the crests are made up completely of the nasal bone. The premaxilla bones make up almost 50% of the entire skull length, and both sides are filled with small holes. Only in adult individuals has the front of the premaxillary contact been fused. Longer than the premaxilla, the nasal bones are the longest in the skull. They make up the entire length of the crest, and are never preserved as fused.[8]

Classification edit

 
Skull of the holotype specimen of S. osborni

Barnum Brown, who described the first specimens, put it in its own subfamily in "Trachodontidae" (=Hadrosauridae), the Saurolophinae. At the time, this also included Corythosaurus and Hypacrosaurus, the only well-known examples of what would become the Lambeosaurinae.[3] Brown thought that Saurolophus had an expanded tip to the ischium bone in the hip, as dinosaurs now recognized as lambeosaurines had, but this appears to have been based on a mistakenly associated lambeosaurine ischium. Additionally, he misinterpreted the crests of Saurolophus and lambeosaurines as being made of the same bones.[17]

Most publications before 2010 classified Saurolophus as a member of Hadrosaurinae, often known colloquially as the "flat-headed hadrosaurs". In 2010, the subfamily Saurolophinae was brought back into use because Hadrosaurus appears to have branched off prior to the "hadrosaurine"–lambeosaurine split. As a result, Hadrosaurinae by definition cannot include the traditional "hadrosaurines". Saurolophinae is the oldest available name for the former "hadrosaurine" clade. Saurolophus, as the name suggests, is a saurolophine, as it has a saurolophine pelvis and a (largely) solid crest.[18]

The following cladogram of hadrosaurid relationships was published in 2013 by Alberto Prieto-Márquez et al. in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica:[19]

Paleobiology edit

Feeding edit

As a hadrosaurid, Saurolophus would have been a bipedal/quadrupedal herbivore, eating a variety of plants. Its skull permitted a grinding motion analogous to chewing, and its teeth were continually replacing and packed into dental batteries that contained hundreds of teeth, only a relative handful of which were in use at any time. Plant material would have been cropped by its broad beak, and held in the jaws by a cheek-like organ. Its feeding range would have extended from the ground to about 4 m (13 ft) above.[7]

Crest function edit

 
Skull of S. angustirostris

The distinctive spike-like crest of Saurolophus has been interpreted in multiple ways, and could have had multiple functions. Brown compared it to the crest of a chameleon, and suggested it could provide an area for muscle attachment and a connection point for a nonbody back frill like that seen in the basilisk lizard. Peter Dodson interpreted similar features in other duckbills as having use in sexual identification.[20] Maryańska and Osmólska, noting the hollow base, suggested that the crest increased the surface area of the respiratory cavity, and helped in thermoregulation.[16] James Hopson supported a function as a visual signal, and further mentioned the possibility that the inflatable skin flaps over the nostrils could have acted as resonators and additional visual signals.[21] This idea has been picked up by authors of popular dinosaur works, such as David B. Norman, who discussed hadrosaurid display at length and included a life restoration of such an adaptation in action.[22]

Ontogeny edit

 
 
 
 
Highlited juvenile remains from block MPC-D 100/764, representing possibly four individuals
 
Cranial ontogeny of S. angustirostris

In 2015 Leonard Dewaele and colleagues described a small and partial nest containing several juveniles of S. angustirostris. The specimen (MPC-D 100/764) was recovered from the notorious Dragon's Tomb assambleage of the Nemegt Formation. The team noted that among remains, three or even four juveniles can be recognized, and two fragmentary eggshells were found in association. Juveniles within this block were identified as perinates, as they had skull lengths less than five percent of the length of the skulls of the adults, indicating they were in the earliest developmental stage at the time of their deaths. Based on these juveniles, Dewaele and team indicated that during the ontogeny of S. angustirostris the distinct crest found in adults was poorly developed in infancy, the snout grew proportionally longer, the orbit became more oval-shaped, the doming of the frontal became less prominent, and the coronoid process became higher.[23]

Social behavior edit

Bell and team in 2018 described the famous Dragon's Tomb assambleage of the Altan Uul II locality, Nemegt Formation, which contains a large-sized bonebed of S. angustirostris. This bonebed is largely monodominant (one dominant species), with at least three size-classes (juveniles, subadults, and adults) of S. angustirostris. Examinations made to Dragon's Tomb suggest that at least 21 Saurolophus individuals can be currently found. The team indicated that this bonebed has a minimum size of about 2000 m2, which suggest that over 100 Saurolophus carcasses may have contributed to the event. However, they discussed that even though evidence clearly reflects a catastrophic mass-mortality of a social group of S. angustirostris and provide the first evidence of gregariousness in this taxon, the exact conditions and cause surrounding the group death can not be determined. Bell and team also noted that while Dragon's Tomb provides direct evidence for social behaviour in S. angustirostris, there is yet no evidence for it in S. osborni. Nevertheless, gregariousness is apparently widespread in hadrosaurines.[24]

Paleopathology edit

 
Left humerus of S. angustirostris MPC-D 100/764, showing multiple bite marks

David W.E. Hone and Mahito Watabe in 2011 reported the left humerus of a nearly complete S. angustirostris skeleton (MPC-D 100/764) from the Bügiin Tsav locality of the Nemegt Formation, which was heavily damaged from bite marks attributed to the sympatric Tarbosaurus. As suggested by the lack of damage to the rest of the skeleton (such as large wounds in skeletal remains indicative of predation), this tyrannosaurid was likely scavenging an already dead S. angustirostris. It is unlikely that a large-bodied predator such as Tarbosaurus would have left sparse feeding traces on a single humerus having an entire carcass to feed on. The humerus shows three distinctive feeding methods, interpreted as punctures, drag marks, and bite−and−drag marks. Hone and Watabe noted that bite marks were mostly located at the deltopectoral crest, suggesting that this Tarbosaurus was actively selecting which biting style employ to scavenge the bone.[25]

Daily activity edit

Comparisons between the scleral rings of Saurolophus and modern birds and reptiles suggest that it may have been cathemeral, active throughout the day at short intervals.[26]

Paleoenvironment edit

Horseshoe Canyon Formation edit

S. osborni is known only from the upper part (unit 4) of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation. The formation is interpreted as having a significant marine influence, due to an encroaching Western Interior Seaway, the shallow sea that covered the midsection of North America through much of the Cretaceous.[27] S. osborni may have preferred to stay inland.[7] It lived alongside other dinosaur species including the ornithopods Hypacrosaurus altispinus and Parksosaurus warreni, ankylosaurid Anodontosaurus lambei, pachycephalosaurid Sphaerotholus edmontonense, ornithomimids Dromiceiomimus brevitertius and an unnamed species of Struthiomimus, small theropods including Atrociraptor marshalli and Albertonykus borealis, and the tyrannosaurid Albertosaurus sarcophagus.[28] The dinosaurs from this formation form part of the Edmontonian land vertebrate age.[27] A 2001 study suggested that Saurolophus osborni was part of a distinct inland fauna characterized by an association between Anchiceratops ornatus and it, while the contemporary coastal fauna was characterized by the association of Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis and Edmontosaurus regalis.[29] However, the association between S. osborni and Anchiceratops was later noted to be in error, Anchiceratops only occurs lower in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, before the major transgression of the Western Interior Seaway represented by the Drumheller Marine Tongue.[30]

Nemegt Formation edit

 
Restoration of a S. angustirostris herd in their native Nemegt Formation alongside a Homalocephale pair

S. angustirostris was one of the largest herbivores of the Nemegt Formation, which lacked large ceratopsians, but had sauropods and a more diverse theropod fauna. Unlike other Mongolian formations like the well-known Djadochta Formation that includes Velociraptor and Protoceratops, the Nemegt is interpreted as being a well-watered region, like the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta.[27] When examined, the rock facies of the Nemegt formation suggest the presence of stream and river channels, mudflats, and shallow lakes. Sediments also indicate that a rich habitat existed, offering diverse food in abundant amounts that could sustain Cretaceous dinosaurs.[31] It coexisted with the rare hadrosaurid Barsboldia, flat-headed pachycephalosaurian Homalocephale and domed Prenocephale, the large ankylosaurid Saichania, rare titanosaurs sauropods Nemegtosaurus and Opisthocoelicaudia, the alvarezsaurid Mononykus, three types of troodontids including Zanabazar, several oviraptorosaurians including Rinchenia and Nemegtomaia, the ornithomimosaurs Anserimimus and Gallimimus, and the giant theropods Deinocheirus and Therizinosaurus, including the tyrannosaurid Tarbosaurus.[28]

S. angustirostris was common, and would have been an important large herbivore in the Nemegt Formation. By comparison, S. osborni was rare in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, and faced competition from other duckbills (genus Hypacrosaurus).[citation needed]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Brown, Barnum (1912). "A crested dinosaur from the Edmonton Cretaceous". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 31 (14): 131–136. hdl:2246/1401.
  2. ^ Brown, Barnum (1913). "The skeleton of Saurolophus, a crested duck-billed dinosaur from the Edmonton Cretaceous". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 32 (19): 387–393. hdl:2246/1415.
  3. ^ a b Brown, Barnum (1914). "Corythosaurus casuarius, a new crested dinosaur from the Belly River Cretaceous, with provisional classification of the family Trachodontidae". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 33 (55): 559–564. hdl:2246/1734.
  4. ^ Riabinin, Anatoly Nikolaenvich, N. (1930). "On the age and fauna of the dinosaur beds on the Amur River". Mémoir, Société Mineral Russia (in Russian). 59: 41–51.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Rozhdestvensky, Anatoly K. (1952). Новый представитель утконосых динозавров из верхнемеловых отложений Монголии [A new representative of the duck-billed dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous deposits of Mongolia]. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR (in Russian). 86 (2): 405–408.
  6. ^ a b Glut, Donald F. (1997). "Saurolophus". Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. pp. 788–789. ISBN 0-89950-917-7.
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  8. ^ a b c d e Bell, P. R. (2011). "Cranial Osteology and Ontogeny of Saurolophus angustirostrisfrom the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia with Comments on Saurolophus osbornifrom Canada". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 56 (4): 703–722. doi:10.4202/app.2010.0061.
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  13. ^ Prieto-Márquez, Albert; Wagner, Jonathan R.; Bell, Phil R.; Chiappe, Luis M. (2014). "The late-surviving 'duck-billed' dinosaur Augustynolophus from the upper Maastrichtian of western North America and crest evolution in Saurolophini". Geological Magazine. 152 (2): 225–241. doi:10.1017/S0016756814000284. S2CID 131049979.
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  18. ^ Prieto-Márquez, Alberto (2010). "Global phylogeny of Hadrosauridae (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) using parsimony and Bayesian methods". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 159 (2): 435–502. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00617.x.
  19. ^ Prieto-Márquez, A.; Wagner, J.R. (2013). "A new species of saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of the Pacific coast of North America". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 58 (2): 255–268. doi:10.4202/app.2011.0049.
  20. ^ Dodson, Peter (1975). "Taxonomic implications of relative growth in lambeosaurine dinosaurs". Systematic Zoology. 24 (1): 37–54. doi:10.2307/2412696. JSTOR 2412696.
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  22. ^ Norman, David B. (1985). "Hadrosaurids II". The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: An Original and Compelling Insight into Life in the Dinosaur Kingdom. New York: Crescent Books. pp. 122–127. ISBN 0-517-46890-5.
  23. ^ Dewaele, Leonard; Tsogtbaatar, Khishigjav; Barsbold, Rinchen; Garcia, Géraldine; Stein, Koen; Escuillie, François; Godefroit, Pascal (October 14, 2015). "Perinatal specimens of Saurolophus angustirostris (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae), from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia". PLOS ONE. 10 (10): e0138806. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1038806D. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138806. PMC 4605499. PMID 26466354.
  24. ^ Bell, P. R.; Evans, D. C.; Eberth, D. A.; Fanti, F.; Tsogtbaatar, K.; Ryan, M. J. (2018). "Sedimentological and taphonomic observations on the "Dragon's Tomb" Saurolophus (Hadrosauridae) bonebed, Nemegt Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Mongolia". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 494: 75−90. Bibcode:2018PPP...494...75B. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.11.034.
  25. ^ Hone, D. W. E.; Watabe, M. (2011). "New information on scavenging and selective feeding behaviour of tyrannosaurids" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 55 (4): 627−634. doi:10.4202/app.2009.0133.
  26. ^ Schmitz, L.; Motani, R. (2011). "Nocturnality in Dinosaurs Inferred from Scleral Ring and Orbit Morphology". Science. 332 (6030): 705–8. Bibcode:2011Sci...332..705S. doi:10.1126/science.1200043. PMID 21493820. S2CID 33253407.
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  28. ^ a b Weishampel, David B.; Barrett, Paul M.; Coria, Rodolfo A.; Le Loueff, Jean; Xu Xing; Zhao Xijin; Sahni, Ashok; Gomani, Elizabeth M.P.; Noto, Christopher N. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 517–606. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
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  30. ^ Sullivan, R.M. and Lucas, S. G. (2006). "The Kirtlandian land-vertebrate "age"–faunal composition, temporal position and biostratigraphic correlation in the nonmarine Upper Cretaceous of western North America." Pp. 7-29 in Lucas, S. G. and Sullivan, R.M. (eds.), Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the Western Interior. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 35.
  31. ^ Novacek, M. (1996). Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc. New York, New York. ISBN 978-0-385-47775-8

External links edit

  • Saurolophus, from the Natural History Museum

  Data related to Saurolophus at Wikispecies

saurolophus, ɔː, meaning, lizard, crest, genus, large, hadrosaurid, dinosaur, from, late, cretaceous, period, asia, north, america, that, lived, what, horseshoe, canyon, nemegt, formations, about, million, million, years, genera, dinosaurs, known, from, multip. Saurolophus s ɔː ˈ r ɒ l e f e s meaning lizard crest is a genus of large hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of Asia and North America that lived in what is now the Horseshoe Canyon and Nemegt formations about 70 million to 66 million years ago It is one of the few genera of dinosaurs known from multiple continents The type species S osborni was described by Barnum Brown in 1912 from Canadian fossils A second valid species S angustirostris is represented by numerous specimens from Mongolia and was described by Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky SaurolophusTemporal range Late Cretaceous 70 66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Mounted S angustirostris skeleton at Nagoya City Science Museum Scientific classification Domain Eukaryota Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Clade Dinosauria Clade Ornithischia Clade Ornithopoda Family Hadrosauridae Subfamily Saurolophinae Tribe Saurolophini Genus SaurolophusBrown 1912 Type species Saurolophus osborniBrown 1912 Other species S angustirostris Rozhdestvensky 1952 Saurolophus is distinguished by a spike like crest which projects up and back from the skull It was a herbivorous dinosaur which could move about either bipedally or quadrupedally Contents 1 Discovery and history 1 1 Species 2 Description 2 1 Skull 3 Classification 4 Paleobiology 4 1 Feeding 4 2 Crest function 4 3 Ontogeny 4 4 Social behavior 4 5 Paleopathology 4 6 Daily activity 5 Paleoenvironment 5 1 Horseshoe Canyon Formation 5 2 Nemegt Formation 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksDiscovery and history edit nbsp Photo from the excavation of S osborni in 1911 Barnum Brown recovered the first described remains of Saurolophus in 1911 including a nearly complete skeleton AMNH 5220 Now on display in the American Museum of Natural History this skeleton was the first nearly complete dinosaur skeleton from Canada It was found in rocks of early Maastrichtian age in the Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation then known as the Edmonton Formation near Tolman Ferry on the Red Deer River in Alberta Brown wasted little time in describing his material 1 2 giving it its own subfamily 3 Saurolophus was an important early reference for other hadrosaurs as seen in the names of Prosaurolophus before Saurolophus and Parasaurolophus near Saurolophus However little additional material has been recovered and described Instead more abundant remains from Asia have provided more data Initial remains were not promising a partial fragmentary ischium from Heilongjiang China that Riabinin named S kryschtofovici 4 Much better remains were soon recovered though but from Mongolia s early Maastrichtian age Nemegt Formation The 1946 1949 Russian Mongolian paleontological expeditions recovered the large skeleton that became S angustirostris as described by Anatoly Rozhdestvensky 5 Other skeletons from a variety of growth stages have also been discovered and S angustirostris is now the most abundant Asian hadrosaurid 6 Species edit nbsp A photograph of the panel mount of the holotype of S osborni from Barnum Brown 1913 Two species are regarded as valid today the type species S osborni and S angustirostris S osborni Brown 1912 is known from a skull and skeleton two other complete skulls and skull fragments S angustirostris Rozhdestvensky 1952 is known from at least 15 specimens 7 It differs from S osborni by some details of the skull as well as in the pattern of scales found in skin impressions The Mongolian species had a longer skull by 20 and the front of the snout the premaxillary bones were more upwardly directed 8 S angustirostris also had a distinctive row of rectangular scales along the midline of the back and tail known as midline feature scales these are not currently preserved in S osborni In S angustirostris the scales on the tail flank were arranged in vertical patterns which may have corresponded to striped coloration in life This area was covered in radial scale patterns in S osborni possibly indicating a more mottled or spotted coloration 9 nbsp Skulls in Moscow Paleontological Museum S kryschtofovici Riabinin 1930 is not considered valid either it is regarded as a dubious name 10 7 or as a synonym of S angustirostris 6 although the name antedates S angustirostris 11 Until a 2011 reevaluation of the species by Phil R Bell S angustirostris was not well described No autapomorphies unique derived traits had been established distinguishing it from S osborni Bell found in a publication earlier in the year that the two previous studies of S angustirostris by Rozhdestvensky in 1952 and Maryanska and Osmolska in 1981 do not provide a comprehensive enough description to compare the species with S osborni 8 In 1939 40 two partial skeletons were found in the late Maastrichtian age Moreno Formation of California These specimens were referred to cf Saurolophus sp In 2010 one of the skulls was instead assigned to Edmontosaurus 12 A 2013 study placed the two specimens in a new species S morrisi 11 In 2014 the species was reassigned to a new genus Augustynolophus 13 Description edit nbsp The size of the two Saurolophus species compared to humans Saurolophus is known from material including nearly complete skeletons giving researchers a clear picture of its bony anatomy S osborni the rarer Albertan species was around 8 2 8 5 m 27 28 ft long with its skull 1 0 m 3 3 ft long 14 15 It has been estimated to have weighed around 3 tonnes 3 0 long tons 3 3 short tons 15 S angustirostris the Mongolian species was larger it got as large as 13 m 43 ft in length and larger remains are reported It has been estimated to have potentially weighed up to 11 tonnes 11 long tons 12 short tons 15 The largest known skull of S angustirostris measures 1 22 m 4 0 ft in length 8 Aside from size the two species are virtually identical with differentiation hindered by lack of study 10 Skull edit nbsp Diagram with labelled skulls of S angustirostris A and S osborni B The most distinctive feature of Saurolophus is its cranial crest which is present in young individuals but is smaller It is long and spike like and projects upward and backward at about a 45 angle starting from over the eyes This crest is often described as solid but appears to be solid only at the point with internal chambers that may have had a respiratory and or heat regulation function 16 The unique crest of Saurolophus is made up almost completely by the nasal bones and in S angustirostris it is solid clarification needed In adult specimens the crests are a rounded triangular shape in cross section The crest protrudes past the edge of the skull backwards Thin processes from the frontals and prefrontals extend along the underside of the crest probably to strengthen it At the end of the crest is a swelling of the nasal which is often termed differently 8 nbsp Restoration of S angustirostris nbsp Restoration of S osborni The holotype of S angustirostris is a skull and postcrania so the cranium of the species is well described Bell et al re evaluated the entire species in a 2011 publication with Acta Palaeontologica Polonica Their description found the skull to be generalized among hadrosaurines and are much larger than any skulls of S osborni The most unusual feature for a hadrosaurine is the long protruding solid crest that extends upwards diagonally from the back of the skull roof Unlike lambeosaurines the crests are made up completely of the nasal bone The premaxilla bones make up almost 50 of the entire skull length and both sides are filled with small holes Only in adult individuals has the front of the premaxillary contact been fused Longer than the premaxilla the nasal bones are the longest in the skull They make up the entire length of the crest and are never preserved as fused 8 Classification edit nbsp Skull of the holotype specimen of S osborni Barnum Brown who described the first specimens put it in its own subfamily in Trachodontidae Hadrosauridae the Saurolophinae At the time this also included Corythosaurus and Hypacrosaurus the only well known examples of what would become the Lambeosaurinae 3 Brown thought that Saurolophus had an expanded tip to the ischium bone in the hip as dinosaurs now recognized as lambeosaurines had but this appears to have been based on a mistakenly associated lambeosaurine ischium Additionally he misinterpreted the crests of Saurolophus and lambeosaurines as being made of the same bones 17 Most publications before 2010 classified Saurolophus as a member of Hadrosaurinae often known colloquially as the flat headed hadrosaurs In 2010 the subfamily Saurolophinae was brought back into use because Hadrosaurus appears to have branched off prior to the hadrosaurine lambeosaurine split As a result Hadrosaurinae by definition cannot include the traditional hadrosaurines Saurolophinae is the oldest available name for the former hadrosaurine clade Saurolophus as the name suggests is a saurolophine as it has a saurolophine pelvis and a largely solid crest 18 The following cladogram of hadrosaurid relationships was published in 2013 by Alberto Prieto Marquez et al in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 19 Saurolophinae Brachylophosaurini Acristravus gagstarsoni Brachylophosaurus canadensis Maiasaura peeblesorum Shantungosaurus giganteus Edmontosaurus Edmontosaurus regalis Edmontosaurus annectens Saurolophini Kerberosaurus manakini Sabinas OTU Prosaurolophus maximus Saurolophus morrisi now Augustynolophus Saurolophus osborni Saurolophus angustirostris Kritosaurini Wulagasaurus dongi Kritosaurus navajovius Big Bend UTEP OTU Secernosaurus koerneri Willinakaqe salitralensis Gryposaurus Gryposaurus latidens Gryposaurus notabilis Gryposaurus monumentensisPaleobiology editFeeding edit As a hadrosaurid Saurolophus would have been a bipedal quadrupedal herbivore eating a variety of plants Its skull permitted a grinding motion analogous to chewing and its teeth were continually replacing and packed into dental batteries that contained hundreds of teeth only a relative handful of which were in use at any time Plant material would have been cropped by its broad beak and held in the jaws by a cheek like organ Its feeding range would have extended from the ground to about 4 m 13 ft above 7 Crest function edit nbsp Skull of S angustirostris The distinctive spike like crest of Saurolophus has been interpreted in multiple ways and could have had multiple functions Brown compared it to the crest of a chameleon and suggested it could provide an area for muscle attachment and a connection point for a nonbody back frill like that seen in the basilisk lizard Peter Dodson interpreted similar features in other duckbills as having use in sexual identification 20 Maryanska and Osmolska noting the hollow base suggested that the crest increased the surface area of the respiratory cavity and helped in thermoregulation 16 James Hopson supported a function as a visual signal and further mentioned the possibility that the inflatable skin flaps over the nostrils could have acted as resonators and additional visual signals 21 This idea has been picked up by authors of popular dinosaur works such as David B Norman who discussed hadrosaurid display at length and included a life restoration of such an adaptation in action 22 Ontogeny edit nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Highlited juvenile remains from block MPC D 100 764 representing possibly four individuals nbsp Cranial ontogeny of S angustirostris In 2015 Leonard Dewaele and colleagues described a small and partial nest containing several juveniles of S angustirostris The specimen MPC D 100 764 was recovered from the notorious Dragon s Tomb assambleage of the Nemegt Formation The team noted that among remains three or even four juveniles can be recognized and two fragmentary eggshells were found in association Juveniles within this block were identified as perinates as they had skull lengths less than five percent of the length of the skulls of the adults indicating they were in the earliest developmental stage at the time of their deaths Based on these juveniles Dewaele and team indicated that during the ontogeny of S angustirostris the distinct crest found in adults was poorly developed in infancy the snout grew proportionally longer the orbit became more oval shaped the doming of the frontal became less prominent and the coronoid process became higher 23 Social behavior edit Bell and team in 2018 described the famous Dragon s Tomb assambleage of the Altan Uul II locality Nemegt Formation which contains a large sized bonebed of S angustirostris This bonebed is largely monodominant one dominant species with at least three size classes juveniles subadults and adults of S angustirostris Examinations made to Dragon s Tomb suggest that at least 21 Saurolophus individuals can be currently found The team indicated that this bonebed has a minimum size of about 2000 m2 which suggest that over 100 Saurolophus carcasses may have contributed to the event However they discussed that even though evidence clearly reflects a catastrophic mass mortality of a social group of S angustirostris and provide the first evidence of gregariousness in this taxon the exact conditions and cause surrounding the group death can not be determined Bell and team also noted that while Dragon s Tomb provides direct evidence for social behaviour in S angustirostris there is yet no evidence for it in S osborni Nevertheless gregariousness is apparently widespread in hadrosaurines 24 Paleopathology edit nbsp Left humerus of S angustirostris MPC D 100 764 showing multiple bite marks David W E Hone and Mahito Watabe in 2011 reported the left humerus of a nearly complete S angustirostris skeleton MPC D 100 764 from the Bugiin Tsav locality of the Nemegt Formation which was heavily damaged from bite marks attributed to the sympatric Tarbosaurus As suggested by the lack of damage to the rest of the skeleton such as large wounds in skeletal remains indicative of predation this tyrannosaurid was likely scavenging an already dead S angustirostris It is unlikely that a large bodied predator such as Tarbosaurus would have left sparse feeding traces on a single humerus having an entire carcass to feed on The humerus shows three distinctive feeding methods interpreted as punctures drag marks and bite and drag marks Hone and Watabe noted that bite marks were mostly located at the deltopectoral crest suggesting that this Tarbosaurus was actively selecting which biting style employ to scavenge the bone 25 Daily activity edit Comparisons between the scleral rings of Saurolophus and modern birds and reptiles suggest that it may have been cathemeral active throughout the day at short intervals 26 Paleoenvironment editHorseshoe Canyon Formation edit S osborni is known only from the upper part unit 4 of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation The formation is interpreted as having a significant marine influence due to an encroaching Western Interior Seaway the shallow sea that covered the midsection of North America through much of the Cretaceous 27 S osborni may have preferred to stay inland 7 It lived alongside other dinosaur species including the ornithopods Hypacrosaurus altispinus and Parksosaurus warreni ankylosaurid Anodontosaurus lambei pachycephalosaurid Sphaerotholus edmontonense ornithomimids Dromiceiomimus brevitertius and an unnamed species of Struthiomimus small theropods including Atrociraptor marshalli and Albertonykus borealis and the tyrannosaurid Albertosaurus sarcophagus 28 The dinosaurs from this formation form part of the Edmontonian land vertebrate age 27 A 2001 study suggested that Saurolophus osborni was part of a distinct inland fauna characterized by an association between Anchiceratops ornatus and it while the contemporary coastal fauna was characterized by the association of Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis and Edmontosaurus regalis 29 However the association between S osborni and Anchiceratops was later noted to be in error Anchiceratops only occurs lower in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation before the major transgression of the Western Interior Seaway represented by the Drumheller Marine Tongue 30 Nemegt Formation edit nbsp Restoration of a S angustirostris herd in their native Nemegt Formation alongside a Homalocephale pair S angustirostris was one of the largest herbivores of the Nemegt Formation which lacked large ceratopsians but had sauropods and a more diverse theropod fauna Unlike other Mongolian formations like the well known Djadochta Formation that includes Velociraptor and Protoceratops the Nemegt is interpreted as being a well watered region like the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta 27 When examined the rock facies of the Nemegt formation suggest the presence of stream and river channels mudflats and shallow lakes Sediments also indicate that a rich habitat existed offering diverse food in abundant amounts that could sustain Cretaceous dinosaurs 31 It coexisted with the rare hadrosaurid Barsboldia flat headed pachycephalosaurian Homalocephale and domed Prenocephale the large ankylosaurid Saichania rare titanosaurs sauropods Nemegtosaurus and Opisthocoelicaudia the alvarezsaurid Mononykus three types of troodontids including Zanabazar several oviraptorosaurians including Rinchenia and Nemegtomaia the ornithomimosaurs Anserimimus and Gallimimus and the giant theropods Deinocheirus and Therizinosaurus including the tyrannosaurid Tarbosaurus 28 S angustirostris was common and would have been an important large herbivore in the Nemegt Formation By comparison S osborni was rare in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation and faced competition from other duckbills genus Hypacrosaurus citation needed See also editTimeline of hadrosaur researchReferences edit Brown Barnum 1912 A crested dinosaur from the Edmonton Cretaceous Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 31 14 131 136 hdl 2246 1401 Brown Barnum 1913 The skeleton of Saurolophus a crested duck billed dinosaur from the Edmonton Cretaceous Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 32 19 387 393 hdl 2246 1415 a b Brown Barnum 1914 Corythosaurus casuarius a new crested dinosaur from the Belly River Cretaceous with provisional classification of the family Trachodontidae Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 33 55 559 564 hdl 2246 1734 Riabinin Anatoly Nikolaenvich N 1930 On the age and fauna of the dinosaur beds on the Amur River Memoir Societe Mineral Russia in Russian 59 41 51 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Rozhdestvensky Anatoly K 1952 Novyj predstavitel utkonosyh dinozavrov iz verhnemelovyh otlozhenij Mongolii A new representative of the duck billed dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous deposits of Mongolia Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR in Russian 86 2 405 408 a b Glut Donald F 1997 Saurolophus Dinosaurs The Encyclopedia Jefferson North Carolina McFarland amp Co pp 788 789 ISBN 0 89950 917 7 a b c d Horner John R Weishampel David B Forster Catherine A 2004 Hadrosauridae In Weishampel David B Dodson Peter Osmolska Halszka eds The Dinosauria 2nd ed Berkeley University of California Press pp 438 463 ISBN 0 520 24209 2 a b c d e Bell P R 2011 Cranial Osteology and Ontogeny of Saurolophus angustirostrisfrom the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia with Comments on Saurolophus osbornifrom Canada Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 56 4 703 722 doi 10 4202 app 2010 0061 Bell P R 2012 Standardized Terminology and Potential Taxonomic Utility for Hadrosaurid Skin Impressions A Case Study for Saurolophus from Canada and Mongolia PLOS ONE 7 2 e31295 Bibcode 2012PLoSO 731295B doi 10 1371 journal pone 0031295 PMC 3272031 PMID 22319623 a b Norman David B Sues Hans Dieter 2000 Ornithopods from Kazakhstan Mongolia and Siberia In Benton Michael J Shishkin Mikhail A Unwin David M Kurochkin Evgenii N eds The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 462 479 ISBN 0 521 55476 4 a b Albert Prieto Marquez amp Jonathan R Wagner 2013 A new species of saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of the Pacific coast of North America Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58 2 255 268 doi 10 4202 app 2011 0049 Bell P R Evans D C 2010 Revision of the status of Saurolophus Hadrosauridae from California USA Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47 11 1417 1426 Bibcode 2010CaJES 47 1417S doi 10 1139 E10 062 Prieto Marquez Albert Wagner Jonathan R Bell Phil R Chiappe Luis M 2014 The late surviving duck billed dinosaur Augustynolophus from the upper Maastrichtian of western North America and crest evolution in Saurolophini Geological Magazine 152 2 225 241 doi 10 1017 S0016756814000284 S2CID 131049979 Lull Richard Swann Wright Nelda E 1942 Hadrosaurian Dinosaurs of North America Geological Society of America Special Paper 40 Geological Society of America p 226 a b c Paul Greg 2010 The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs New Jersey Princeton University Press p 335 a b Maryanska Teresa Osmolska Halszka 1981 Cranial anatomy of Saurolophus angustirostris with comments on the Asian Hadrosauridae Dinosauria PDF Palaeontologia Polonica 42 5 24 Sternberg Charles M 1954 Classification of American duckbilled dinosaurs Journal of Paleontology 28 3 382 383 Prieto Marquez Alberto 2010 Global phylogeny of Hadrosauridae Dinosauria Ornithopoda using parsimony and Bayesian methods Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 159 2 435 502 doi 10 1111 j 1096 3642 2009 00617 x Prieto Marquez A Wagner J R 2013 A new species of saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of the Pacific coast of North America Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58 2 255 268 doi 10 4202 app 2011 0049 Dodson Peter 1975 Taxonomic implications of relative growth in lambeosaurine dinosaurs Systematic Zoology 24 1 37 54 doi 10 2307 2412696 JSTOR 2412696 Hopson James A 1975 The evolution of cranial display structures in hadrosaurian dinosaurs Paleobiology 1 1 21 43 doi 10 1017 S0094837300002165 S2CID 88689241 Norman David B 1985 Hadrosaurids II The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs An Original and Compelling Insight into Life in the Dinosaur Kingdom New York Crescent Books pp 122 127 ISBN 0 517 46890 5 Dewaele Leonard Tsogtbaatar Khishigjav Barsbold Rinchen Garcia Geraldine Stein Koen Escuillie Francois Godefroit Pascal October 14 2015 Perinatal specimens of Saurolophus angustirostris Dinosauria Hadrosauridae from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia PLOS ONE 10 10 e0138806 Bibcode 2015PLoSO 1038806D doi 10 1371 journal pone 0138806 PMC 4605499 PMID 26466354 Bell P R Evans D C Eberth D A Fanti F Tsogtbaatar K Ryan M J 2018 Sedimentological and taphonomic observations on the Dragon s Tomb Saurolophus Hadrosauridae bonebed Nemegt Formation Upper Cretaceous Mongolia Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 494 75 90 Bibcode 2018PPP 494 75B doi 10 1016 j palaeo 2017 11 034 Hone D W E Watabe M 2011 New information on scavenging and selective feeding behaviour of tyrannosaurids PDF Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55 4 627 634 doi 10 4202 app 2009 0133 Schmitz L Motani R 2011 Nocturnality in Dinosaurs Inferred from Scleral Ring and Orbit Morphology Science 332 6030 705 8 Bibcode 2011Sci 332 705S doi 10 1126 science 1200043 PMID 21493820 S2CID 33253407 a b c Dodson Peter 1996 The Horned Dinosaurs A Natural History Princeton Princeton University Press pp 14 15 ISBN 0 691 05900 4 a b Weishampel David B Barrett Paul M Coria Rodolfo A Le Loueff Jean Xu Xing Zhao Xijin Sahni Ashok Gomani Elizabeth M P Noto Christopher N 2004 Dinosaur distribution In Weishampel David B Dodson Peter Osmolska Halszka eds The Dinosauria 2nd ed Berkeley University of California Press pp 517 606 ISBN 0 520 24209 2 Lehman T M 2001 Late Cretaceous dinosaur provinciality In Mesozoic Vertebrate Life edited by Tanke D H and Carpenter K Indiana University Press pp 310 328 Sullivan R M and Lucas S G 2006 The Kirtlandian land vertebrate age faunal composition temporal position and biostratigraphic correlation in the nonmarine Upper Cretaceous of western North America Pp 7 29 in Lucas S G and Sullivan R M eds Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the Western Interior New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 35 Novacek M 1996 Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc New York New York ISBN 978 0 385 47775 8External links editSaurolophus from the Natural History Museum nbsp Data related to Saurolophus at Wikispecies nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saurolophus Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Saurolophus amp oldid 1197542286, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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