Lanzhousaurus
Lanzhousaurus Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous,
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Skeletal mount of Lanzhousaurus | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | †Ornithischia |
Clade: | †Neornithischia |
Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
Clade: | †Styracosterna |
Genus: | †Lanzhousaurus You, Ji & Li, 2005 |
Type species | |
†Lanzhousaurus magnidens You, Ji & Li, 2005
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Lanzhousaurus (meaning "Lanzhou lizard") is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur. Lanzhousaurus lived in the Gansu region of what is now China during the Early Cretaceous (Barremian). A partial skeleton has been recovered from the Hekou Group. It was described by You, Ji and Li in 2005 and the type and only species is Lanzhousaurus magnidens.[1] It's been estimated to be about 10 meters (33 feet) in length and 6 tonnes (6.6 short tons) in weight.[2]
Dentition
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Lanzhousaurus_UDL.png/220px-Lanzhousaurus_UDL.png)
The genus has been described as having "astonishingly huge teeth", among the largest for any herbivorous creature ever, which indicate it was a styracosternan iguanodont. The mandible, longer than one meter, suggests a very large size for the animal. Tooth enamel of this dinosaur was growing very rapidly.[3]
References
- ^ You, H.-L. (2005) Lanzhousaurus magnidens from the Lower Cretraceous of Gansu province, China: The largest-toothed herbivorous dinosaur in the world. JVP 26(3) Abstracts pp. 142
- ^ Paul, Gregory S. (2016). The princeton field guide to dinosaurs 2nd edition. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 319.
- ^ Celina A. Suarez, Hai-Lu You, Marina B. Suarez, Da-Qing Li & J. B. Trieschmann (2017). Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Enamel Elongation (Amelogenesis) Rates for the Early Cretaceous Iguanodontian Dinosaur Lanzhousaurus magnidens. Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 15319 (2017). doi:10.1038/s41598-017-15653-6