Mandschurosaurus

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Mandschurosaurus Fossil range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Superorder: Dinosauria Order: Ornithischia Suborder: Ornithopoda Family: Hadrosauridae Genus: Mandschurosaurus Species: M. amurensis
Binomial name
Mandschurosaurus amurensis Riabinin, 1930

Mandschurosaurus (Riabinin, 1930) is a hadrosaur taxon based on material from the Upper Cretaceous of Belye Kruchi, Manchuria. M. amurensis is based on a poorly preserved and incomplete skeleton collected by Russian scientists in 1914 from the banks of the Amur River. It was the first dinosaur genus named from China, and an impressive mounted skeleton is on display at the Central Geological and Prospecting Museum in St. Petersburg. However, much of the skeleton is plaster. Regardless, the remains represent a very large hadrosaurid, at least 8 meters in length. There has been some debate regarding the validity of this genus. Brett-Surman (1979) first considered it a nomen dubium, though some later workers have continued to see it as a valid taxon (Chapman et Brett Surman, 1990, for example). Most recently, Horner et al. (2004) listed the type species as a nomen dubium. The holotype material was initially referred to the genus "Trachodon" (also a nomen dubium), but later reassigned to a new genus by Riabinin (1930).

Over the years, three species have been placed within this genus: Mandschurosaurus amurensis, M. mongoliensis, and M. laosensis. Horner et. al. (2004) consider M. mongoliensis a synoynm of Gilmoreosaurus and M. laosensis as a nomen dubium. This leaves only Raibinin's original species, M. amurensis, as a possibly valid taxon.

[edit] References

• Brett-Surman M. K. (1979). "Phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of hadrosaurian dinosaurs". Nature 277 (5697): 560-562. DOI:10.1038/277560a0. 
• Chapman R. et Brett-Surman M. K.. 1990. Morphometric observations on hadrosaurid ornithopods. in Carpenter K. et Currie, P. J. (eds.), Dinosaur Systematics: Perspectives and Approaches, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 163-177.
• Horner J., Weishampel D. B., et Forster C. A. 2004. Chapter Twenty: Hadrosauridae. in The Dinosauria (2nd edition), Weishampel D. B., Dodson P., and Osmólska H., editors. University of California Press.
• Riabinin A. N. (1930). "[Mandschurosaurus amurensis nov. gen, nov. sp. a hadrosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of the Amur River.]". Soc. Paleontol. Russ. Mem. 2: 1-36.