Secernosaurus

Secernosaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Ornithopoda
Infraorder: Iguanodontia
Superfamily: Hadrosauroidea
Family: Hadrosauridae
Genus: Secernosaurus
Brett-Surman, 1979
Species
  • S. koerneri Brett-Surman, 1979 (type)

Secernosaurus (meaning "severed lizard") is a genus of herbivorous dinosaur. Secernosaurus was a hadrosaur, a "duck-billed" dinosaur which lived during the Late Cretaceous. Its fossils have been found in Argentina. Its name comes from the fact that it lived in South America, which during the Mesozoic Era was part of the southern supercontinent of Gondwana. Most other hadrosaurs lived in the northern supercontinent of Laurasia, so it was separated from its relatives.

The type species is Secernosaurus koerneri, described in 1979. A species named in 1984, Kritosaurus australis, is thought to be synonymous.[1]

References

  1. ^ Prieto–Marquez, Alberto; and Salinas, Guillermo C. (2010). "A re–evaluation of Secernosaurus koerneri and Kritosaurus australis (Dinosauria, Hadrosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30 (3): 813–837. doi:10.1080/02724631003763508.