Microhadrosaurus
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| Microhadrosaurus Fossil range: Late Cretaceous |
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| Microhadrosaurus nanshiungensis Dong, 1979 |
Microhadrosaurus (meaning "small sturdy lizard" in Greek) is a genus of duckbill dinosaur from the Campanian or Maastrichtian-age Upper Cretaceous Yuanpu Formation (also known as the Nanxiong Formation) of Guangdong, China. Although its name identifies it as a small duckbill, it is based on juvenile remains, and the size of the adult hadrosaur is unknown.
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[edit] Description
Dong Zhiming named this genus for IVPP V4732, a partial lower jaw from a juvenile hadrosaur. This partial bone, with 18 columns of stacked teeth in a typical hadrosaur tooth battery, measures 37 centimeters long (15 inches).[1] Dong later estimated the length of the individual at 2.6 meters (8.5 feet).[2]
[edit] History
Dong regarded this genus as much like Edmontosaurus, albeit in tiny form.[1] However, Michael K. Brett-Surman, a hadrosaur specialist, regarded the material as showing no characteristics that would allow it to be differentiated from other duckbills.[3] The most recent review accepts Brett-Surman's position, and regards Microhadrosaurus as a dubious name.[4]
[edit] Paleobiology
As a hadrosaurid, Microhadrosaurus would have been a bipedal/quadrupedal herbivore, eating plants with a sophisticated skull that permitted a grinding motion analogous to chewing, and was furnished with hundreds of continually-replaced teeth. [4] Because it is only known from a partial jaw from a juvenile, little more than general information can be drawn from it at this point.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Dong Zhiming (1979). "The Cretaceous dinosaur fossils in southern China", in Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and Nanjing Institute of Paleontology (eds.): Mesozoic and Cenozoic Red Beds of South China (in Chinese). Nanxiong, China: Science Press, 342-350.
- ^ Dong Zhiming (1987). Dinosaurs from China. Beijing: China Ocean Press, 1-114. ISBN 0-565-01073-5.
- ^ Brett-Surman, Michael K. (1989). A revision of the Hadrosauridae (Reptilia:Ornithischia) and their evolution during the Campanian and Maastrichtian. Ph.D. dissertation. Washington, D.C.: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University, 1-272.
- ^ a b Horner, John R.; Weishampel, David B.; and Forster, Catherine A (2004). "Hadrosauridae", in Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press, 438-463. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
