Shantungosaurus

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Shantungosaurus
Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous
70 mya
Restored skeletons
Scientific classification Edit this 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
Artist's restoration
Shantungosaurus (blue) compared with other giant ornithopods

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]

  1. Glut, Donald F. (1997). "Shantungosaurus". Dinosaurs: the encyclopedia. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. pp. 816–817. ISBN 0-89950-917-7.
  2. Hu Chengzhi; et al. (2001). Shantungosaurus giganteus (in Chinese). Beijing: Geological Publishing House. pp. 123–135 [English abstract]. ISBN 7-116-03472-2.
  3. The dinosauria. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. 2004. ISBN 978-0-520-94143-4. OCLC 801843269.
  4. 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.
  5. Palmer D., ed. (1999). The Marshall illustrated encyclopedia of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 148. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.