1. The skull and appendicular skeleton of Gryposaurus latidens, a saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the early Campanian (Cretaceous) of Montana, USA
- Author
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Prieto-Marquez, Albert
- Subjects
Hadrosaurids -- Natural history -- Physiological aspects ,Skeleton -- Physiological aspects -- Natural history ,Skull -- Physiological aspects -- Natural history ,Earth sciences - Abstract
The osteology of the holotype and referred specimens of the saurolophine hadrosaurid, Gryposaurus latidens, from the lower Two Medicine Formation of Montana (USA), is described in detail. With an estimated early Campanian (Late Cretaceous) age, this dinosaur is one of the oldest known hadrosaurids. Gryposaurus latidens shows several autapomorphies, including dentary tooth crowns, with an apicobasal length/mesiodistal width ratio of 1.7-2.2, a single median carina, and large marginal denticles in sections of the dental battery; deep and oval depression on the posteroventral premaxillary surface; and, in the context of Hadrosauridae, a shallow lacrimal process of the rostral process of the jugal. Furthermore, G. latidens differs from G. notabilis and G. monumentensis in having a broadly arcuate anterolateral oral margin of the premaxilla, a posterior margin of the narial fenestra that is wider than the dorsoventral depth of the proximal region of the narial bar, with a nasal crest that rises above the level of the frontals (in adults) and is located above the posterior margin of the narial fenestra, and wide and shallow posteroventral margin of the rostral process of the jugal, among other characters. This study confirmed a previous hypothesis supporting G. latidens as the sister taxon to a clade composed of the other species of Gryposaurus. L'osteologie de l'holotype et des specimens affectes de l'hadrausoride saurolophine Gryposaurus latidens, de la partie inferieure de la Formation de Two Medicine au Montana (Etats-Unis), est decrite en detail. Ce dinosaure, dont l'age estime est du Campanien precoce (Cretace tardif), est l'un des plus anciens hadrosaurides connus. G. latidens presente plusieurs autapomorphies, dont des couronnes des dents dentaires ayant un rapport longueur apicobasale/largeur mesiodistale allant de 1,7 a 2,2, une seule carene mediane et de grands denticules marginaux dans certains segments de la batterie dentaire, une profonde depression ovale sur la surface premaxillaire posteroventrale et, dans le contexte des Hadrosaurides, un processus lacrymal peu profond du processus rostral de l'os jugal. G. latidens se distingue en outre de G. notabilis et G. monumentensis par une bordure posterieure de la fenetre nariale plus large que la profondeur dorsoventrale de la region proximale de la barre nariale, avec une crete nasale s' elevant au-dessus du niveau des os frontaux (chez les adultes) et situee au-dessus de la bordure posterieure de la fenetre nariale, et une bordure posteroventrale large et peu profonde du processus rostral du jugal, entre autres caracteristiques. L'etude confirme l'hypothese etablie anterieurement voulant que G. latidens soit le taxon frere d' un clade compose des autres especes de Gryposaurus. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Hadrosaurid dinosaurs were among the most diverse and abundant large terrestrial herbivores of the Late Cretaceous (Lull and Wright 1942; Horner et al. 2004). This is evidenced by a [...]
- Published
- 2012
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