Shantungosaurus
| Shantungosaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous
70 mya | |
|---|---|
| |
| Restored skeletons | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | †Ornithopoda |
| Family: | †Hadrosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Saurolophinae |
| Tribe: | †Edmontosaurini |
| Genus: | †Shantungosaurus |
| Species: | †S. giganteus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Shantungosaurus giganteus | |
Shantungosaurus was a huge hadrosaur found in the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Formation of the Shandong Peninsula in China. It was the largest known hadrosaur.
The skeleton of a medium-sized individual mounted at the Geological Institute of China in Beijing is 14.72 metres (48.3 ft) in length,[1] and the type skull is 1.63 metres (5.3 ft) long.[2] The weight of this genus is estimated at up to 16 tonnes (18 short tons).[3] With a composite mounted skeleton 17 meters long (55.7 ft) it is the largest known ornithischian and the largest non-sauropod dinosaur.[4]
It had an unusually long tail, presumably to counterbalance the great weight of the body at the animal's hips.[5]
Like all hadrosaurs its beak was toothless, but its jaws were packed with around 1,500 tiny chewing teeth. A large hole near its nostrils may have been covered by a loose flap, which could be inflated to make sounds.
First described in 1973, Shantungosaurus is known from five incomplete skeletons.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Glut, Donald F. (1997). "Shantungosaurus". Dinosaurs: the encyclopedia. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. pp. 816–817. ISBN 0-89950-917-7.
- ↑ Hu Chengzhi; et al. (2001). Shantungosaurus giganteus (in Chinese). Beijing: Geological Publishing House. pp. 123–135 [English abstract]. ISBN 7-116-03472-2.
- ↑ The dinosauria. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. 2004. ISBN 978-0-520-94143-4. OCLC 801843269.
- ↑ Zhao, X.; et al. (2007). "Zhuchengosaurus maximus from Shandong Province". Acta Geoscientia Sinica. 28 (2): 111–122. doi:10.1007/s10114-005-0808-x. S2CID 119700784.
- ↑ Palmer D., ed. (1999). The Marshall illustrated encyclopedia of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 148. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.