Dataset Information

A new saurolophine dinosaur from the latest cretaceous of far Eastern Russia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Four main dinosaur sites have been investigated in latest cretaceous deposits from the Amur/Heilongjiang Region: Jiayin and Wulaga in China (Yuliangze Formation), Blagoveschensk and Kundur in Russia (Udurchukan Formation). More than 90% of the bones discovered in these localities belong to hollow-crested lambeosaurine saurolophids, but flat-headed saurolophines are also represented: Kerberosaurus manakini at Blagoveschensk and Wulagasaurus dongi at Wulaga.

Methodology/principal findings

Herein we describe a new saurolophine dinosaur, Kundurosaurus nagornyi gen. et sp. nov., from the Udurchukan Formation (Maastrichtian) of Kundur, represented by disarticulated cranial and postcranial material. This new taxon is diagnosed by four autapomorphies.

Conclusions/significance

A phylogenetic analysis of saurolophines indicates that Kundurosaurus nagornyi is nested within a rather robust clade including Edmontosaurus spp., Saurolophus spp., and Prosaurolophus maximus, possibly as a sister-taxon for Kerberosaurus manakini also from the Udurchukan Formation of Far Eastern Russia. The high diversity and mosaic distribution of Maastrichtian hadrosaurid faunas in the Amur-Heilongjiang region are the result of a complex palaeogeographical history and imply that many independent hadrosaurid lineages dispersed without any problem between western America and eastern Asia at the end of the Cretaceous.

SUBMITTER: Godefroit P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3364265 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A new saurolophine dinosaur from the latest cretaceous of far Eastern Russia.

Godefroit Pascal P Bolotsky Yuri L YL Lauters Pascaline P

PloS one 20120530 5

<h4>Background</h4>Four main dinosaur sites have been investigated in latest cretaceous deposits from the Amur/Heilongjiang Region: Jiayin and Wulaga in China (Yuliangze Formation), Blagoveschensk and Kundur in Russia (Udurchukan Formation). More than 90% of the bones discovered in these localities belong to hollow-crested lambeosaurine saurolophids, but flat-headed saurolophines are also represented: Kerberosaurus manakini at Blagoveschensk and Wulagasaurus dongi at Wulaga.<h4>Methodology/princ ...[more]

PMID: 22666331

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Dataset Information

A new saurolophine dinosaur from the latest cretaceous of far Eastern Russia.

Background

Methodology/principal findings

Conclusions/significance

Publications

A new saurolophine dinosaur from the latest cretaceous of far Eastern Russia.

Similar Datasets

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