Adelolophus

Last updated

Adelolophus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 78  Ma
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Adelolophus LM.png
Speculative restoration of the head
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Family: Hadrosauridae
Subfamily: Lambeosaurinae
Tribe: Parasaurolophini
Genus: Adelolophus
Gates et al., 2014
Species:
A. hutchisoni
Binomial name
Adelolophus hutchisoni
Gates et al., 2014

Adelolophus (meaning "unknown crest") is a genus of lambeosaurine dinosaur (a crested "duck-bill") from Upper Cretaceous rocks in the U.S. state of Utah. The type and only known species is A. hutchisoni; the type specimen consists only of a broken maxilla . It constitutes the oldest known lambeosaur remains from North America, as well as the only known lambeosaur species from the Wahweap Formation, of which it pertains to the Upper Member. Among its relatives, it seems to be particularly similar to Parasaurolophus , rather than animals like Lambeosaurus ; phylogenetic analysis confirms this, finding it in Parasaurolophini (tube-headed lambeosaurs). It would have lived in a wet environment, bordering on the sea but with a more arid season during some times of the year. This environment would have been shared with a diverse variety of fish and turtles, as well as other dinosaurs like ceratopsids and tyrannosaurids.

Contents

Discovery and naming

Adelolophus was discovered in the badlands of the Grand Staircase Wahweap Formation 933.jpg
Adelolophus was discovered in the badlands of the Grand Staircase

A fossil bearing locality near Death Ridge in Kane County, Utah was first reported in 1973 by Howard D. Zeller; this locality is part of the Wahweap Formation, found within the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument area. The information reported by Zeller would be used by John Howard Hutchison and colleagues to return there to collect fossils in 1999. Among these was the maxilla (a jawbone) of a lambeosaurine hadrosaur. [1] This maxilla was first reported in 2013, in a paper by Terry Gates and colleagues. It was noted as the only known lambeosaur material from the formation (reported as being from the Upper Member), and the oldest known lambeosaur material in North America. They suggested the unique morphology indicated it was a new taxon, but refrained from naming it. [2]

Later, the specimen was described and named in a 2014 study, again led by Terry Gates, published as part of the book Hadrosaurs. The new species was given the name Adelolophus hutchisoni. The holotype is UCMP 152028, an incomplete right maxilla with both ends broken off. The generic name is derived from Greek α~, "not", δηλόω, "to show" and λόφη, "crest", referring to the known anatomy of the species not showing the presumed crest. The specific name is in honor of Hutchison, who discovered the specimen. The study noted that the exact locality of the specimen was unknown, making its referral to the Upper Member tentative, merely surmised by the rock matrix that had surrounded the specimen. [3] The type locality would be clarified by a 2016 study by Hutchison and Patricia A. Holroyd, confirming it came from the lower end of the Upper Member. It was suggested that the locality may bridge the gap in time between the older Middle Member and younger Upper Member of the formation. Fossils of other animals from the same locality were reported in the paper. Among these were fragmentary hadrosaur postcrania l specimens, pertaining to various ages, including one very large individual. While the possibility was noted these could belong to Adelolophus, a referral is impossible to confirm. [1]

Description

Skull of related dinosaur Parasaurolophus Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus skull salt lake city.jpg
Skull of related dinosaur Parasaurolophus

Several unique morphological traits diagnose Adelolophus as a distinct genus, despite its fragmentary nature. The anatomy of the only known bone, the maxilla (part of the upper jaw, bearing teeth), is identifiable as that of a lambeosaur (a type of dinosaur which possessed large, hollow head crests) based on features such as its triangular shape. Among its relatives, its anatomy is more similar to that of parasaurolophs (tube-headed lambeosaurs) rather than lambeosaurins (casque headed lambeosaurs), two closely related types of lambeosaurine. It differs most prominently from other taxa in its very tall medial wall (a ridge situated along the middle, upper edge of the bone), both on the front and back end of the bone. By comparison, lambeosaurins possess a particularly short medial wall, with that of Parasaurolophus showing an intermediate condition between the two. [3]

The dorsal process, a bony upwards extension, is again more similar to that of parasaurolophs, being relatively rounded rather than sharply tapered as in lambeosaurins. The region where the maxilla articulates with the jugal bone seems to indicate a parasauroloph-like jugal as well, though this bone itself was not preserved. Near the back end of the maxilla, another distinguishing trait of Adelolophus is its large, elevated palatine process (a triangular that connects to the palatine bone); in other lambeosaurs, it is smaller and lower on the maxilla. The shape of the bottom edge of the bone, along the toothrow, is drastically different from other North American relatives, including Parasaurolophus; it is rugose and has protrusions, rather than the more usual smooth condition. Running from the jugal articulation to the palatine process, Adelolophus possesses a unique, thickened ridge, also unique among lambeosaurs. [3]

Classification

Adelolophus restored with a crest similar to that of the closely related Parasaurolophus Life reconstruction of Adelolophus hutchisoni.png
Adelolophus restored with a crest similar to that of the closely related Parasaurolophus

Adelolophus is a member of the lambeosaur subfamily of the family Hadrosauridae. Its phylogenetic position was not tested more precisely in its original description paper. [3] A 2021 study by Nicholas Longrich and colleagues included Adelolophus in a phylogenetic analysis (test of its relation to other hadrosaurs) and found it to be a member of the tribe Parasaurolophini. Close relatives would have included Parasaurolophus and Charonosaurus . The cladogram from Longrich et al. (2021) is reproduced below: [4]

Hadrosauridae

Saurolophinae

Lambeosaurinae

Aralosaurus

Jaxartosaurus

Nipponosaurus

Tsintaosaurus

Arenysaurini

Parasaurolophini

Angulomastacator

Adelolophus

Charonosaurus

Parasaurolophus

Lambeosaurini

A more expansive study reinforced the position within Parasaurolophini, placing it sister to the unusual Tlatolophus . [5]

Paleoenvironment

Skull of the tyrannosaurid Lythronax Lythronax skull 3 salt lake city.jpg
Skull of the tyrannosaurid Lythronax

Adelolophus pertains to the Upper Member of the Wahweap Formation, which is dated to the early Campanian age. [1] [3] The formation is composed of mudstone and sandstone. The environment of the Upper Member was tidal, characterized by meandering rivers. Compared to the lower members, the Upper Member had a more marine influence, caused by the encroaching Western Interior Seaway. This created an estuarine environment with brackish water. Despite the generally wet climate, a dry season would have been present. [6]

The fossil remains of numerous other animals from the locality the holotype was found paint a picture of what animals Adelolophus would have lived alongside. Fish present include indeterminate sturgeon and gar specimens, as well as better remains of the large bowfin fish Melvius . Turtles of the extinct baenid family are abundant at the site; these include Arvinachelys , Denazinemys , Neurankylus , and additional remains not identifiable to the level of species. Gars, Melvius, and baenid turtles are all common throughout the Wahweap Formation. The Nanhsiungchelyid turtle Basilemys and indeterminate trionychid turtle specimens were also reported. Mesosuchian remains have been documented; this is significant, as fossils of the group are rarely found in the formation. Lastly, fragmentary remains of a tyrannosaurid theropod were found at the site. The tyrannosaur Lythronax is known from the Middle Member of the Wahweap Formation, but the remains from the Adelolophus locality are non-diagnostic, so whether they belong to the taxon cannot be determined. [1] Ceratopsid dinosaur Machairoceratops is also from the Upper Member. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadrosauridae</span> Extinct family of dinosaurs

Hadrosaurids, or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which includes genera such as Edmontosaurus and Parasaurolophus, was a common group of herbivores during the Late Cretaceous Period. Hadrosaurids are descendants of the Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous iguanodontian dinosaurs and had a similar body layout. Hadrosaurs were among the most dominant herbivores during the Late Cretaceous in Asia and North America, and during the close of the Cretaceous several lineages dispersed into Europe, Africa, South America and Antarctica.

<i>Parasaurolophus</i> Hadrosaurid ornithopod dinosaur genus from Late Cretaceous Period

Parasaurolophus is a genus of herbivorous hadrosaurid ornithopod dinosaur that lived in what is now North America and possibly Asia during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 76.5–73 million years ago. It was a herbivore that walked both as a biped and as a quadruped. Three species are universally recognized: P. walkeri, P. tubicen, and the short-crested P. cyrtocristatus. Additionally, a fourth species, P. jiayinensis, has been proposed, although it is more commonly placed in the separate genus Charonosaurus. Remains are known from Alberta (Canada), New Mexico and Utah, and possibly Heilongjiang (China). The genus was first described in 1922 by William Parks from a skull and partial skeleton found in Alberta.

<i>Pararhabdodon</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Pararhabdodon is a genus of tsintaosaurin hadrosaurid dinosaur, from the Maastrichtian-age Upper Cretaceous Tremp Group of Spain. The first remains were discovered from the Sant Romà d’Abella fossil locality and assigned to the genus Rhabdodon, and later named as the distinct species Pararhabdodon isonensis in 1993. Known material includes assorted postcranial remains, mostly vertebrae, as well as maxillae from the skull. Specimens from other sites, including remains from France, a maxilla previously considered the distinct taxon Koutalisaurus kohlerorum, an additional maxilla from another locality, the material assigned to the genera Blasisaurus and Arenysaurus, and the extensive Basturs Poble bonebed have been considered at different times to belong to the species, but all of these assignments have more recently been questioned. It was one of the last non-avian dinosaurs known from the fossil record that went extinct during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.

<i>Charonosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Charonosaurus is a genus of dinosaur whose fossils were discovered by Godefroit, Zan & Jin in 2000 on the south bank of the Amur River, dividing China from Russia. It is monotypic, consisting of the species C. jiayinensis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lambeosaurini</span> Extinct tribe of dinosaurs

Lambeosaurini, previously known as Corythosaurini, is one of four tribes of hadrosaurid ornithopods from the family Lambeosaurinae. It is defined as all lambeosaurines closer to Lambeosaurus lambei than to Parasaurolophus walkeri, Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus, or Aralosaurus tuberiferus, which define the other three tribes. Members of this tribe possess a distinctive protruding cranial crest. Lambeosaurins walked the earth for a period of around 12 million years in the Late Cretaceous, though they were confined to regions of modern-day North America and Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lambeosaurinae</span> Extinct subfamily of dinosaurs

Lambeosaurinae is a group of crested hadrosaurid dinosaurs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parasaurolophini</span> Extinct tribe of dinosaurs

Parasaurolophini is a tribe of derived corythosaurian lambeosaurine hadrosaurids that are native to Asia, and North America. It is defined as everything closer to Parasaurolophus walkeri than to Lambeosaurus lambei. It currently contains Adelolophus, possibly Angulomastacator, Charonosaurus, Parasaurolophus and Tlatolophus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wahweap Formation</span>

The Wahweap Formation of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument is a geological formation in southern Utah and northern Arizona, around the Lake Powell region, whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.

<i>Diabloceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Diabloceratops is an extinct genus of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived approximately 81.4-81 million years ago during the latter part of the Cretaceous Period in what is now Utah, in the United States. Diabloceratops was a medium-sized, moderately built, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore, that could grow up to an estimated 4.5 metres (15 ft) in length and 1.3 metric tons in body mass. At the time of its discovery, it was the oldest-known ceratopsid, and first centrosaurine known from latitudes south of the U.S. state of Montana. The generic name Diabloceratops means "devil-horned face," coming from Diablo, Spanish for "devil," and ceratops, Latinized Greek for "horned face." The specific name honors Jeffrey Eaton, a paleontologist at Weber State University and long time friend of the lead author Jim Kirkland. Eaton had a big role in establishing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument where the specimen was found. The type species, Diabloceratops eatoni, was named and described in 2010 by James Ian Kirkland and Donald DeBlieux.

<i>Angulomastacator</i> Extinct genus of dinosaur

Angulomastacator is a genus of duck-billed dinosaur from the Campanian-age Aguja Formation of Big Bend National Park, Texas. It is known from a single specimen, TMM 43681–1, a partial left maxilla. This bone is curved down approximately 45° at its anterior end, with the tooth row bent to fit, unlike any other hadrosaur. The unusual characteristics of the maxilla, which have not been reported from elsewhere, supports the hypothesis that the dinosaurs of the Aguja Formation were endemic forms. It was discovered in the upper shale member of the Aguja Formation, among plant, bone, and clam fragments in a bed interpreted as the deposits of a small tributary channel. This bed is just below rocks of the overlying Javelina Formation. Volcanic rocks at about the same level have been dated to 76.9 ± 1.2 million years ago.

<i>Utahceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Utahceratops is an extinct genus of ceratopsian dinosaur that lived approximately 76.4~75.5 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Utah. Utahceratops was a large-sized, robustly-built, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore, that could grow up to an estimated 5–7 m (16–23 ft) long.

<i>Kosmoceratops</i> Dinosaur genus from the Late Cretaceous period

Kosmoceratops is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur that lived in North America about 76–75.9 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. Specimens were discovered in Utah in the Kaiparowits Formation of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in 2006 and 2007, including an adult skull and postcranial skeleton and partial subadults. In 2010, the adult was made the holotype of the new genus and species Kosmoceratops richardsoni; the generic name means "ornate horned face", and the specific name honors Scott Richardson, who found the specimens. The find was part of a spate of ceratopsian discoveries in the early 21st century, and Kosmoceratops was considered significant due to its elaborate skull ornamentation.

<i>Teratophoneus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Teratophoneus is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur which lived during the late Cretaceous period in what is now Utah, United States, containing a single known species, T. curriei. It is known from an incomplete skull and postcranial skeleton recovered from the Kaiparowits Formation. It was specifically named T. curriei in honor of Philip J. Currie.

<i>Acristavus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Acristavus is a genus of saurolophine dinosaur. Fossils have been found from the Campanian Two Medicine Formation in Montana and Wahweap Formation in Utah, United States. The type species A. gagslarsoni was named in 2011. Unlike nearly all hadrosaurids except Edmontosaurus, Acristavus lacked ornamentation on its skull. The discovery of Acristavus is paleontologically significant because it supports the position that the ancestor of all hadrosaurids did not possess cranial ornamentation, and that ornamentation was an adaptation that later arose interdependently in the subfamilies Saurolophinae and Lambeosaurinae. It is closely related to Brachylophosaurus and Maiasaura, and was assigned to a new clade called Brachylophosaurini.

<i>Nasutoceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Nasutoceratops is an extinct genus of ceratopsian dinosaur. It is a basal centrosaurine which lived during the Late Cretaceous Period. Fossils have been found in southern Utah, United States. Nasutoceratops was a large, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore with a short snout and unique rounded horns above its eyes that have been likened to those of modern cattle. Extending almost to the tip of its snout, these horns are the longest of all the members of the centrosaurine subfamily. The presence of pneumatic elements in the nasal bones of Nasutoceratops are a unique trait and are unknown in any other ceratopsid.

<i>Canardia</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Canardia is an extinct genus of lambeosaurine dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous Marnes d'Auzas Formation of Haute-Garonne department, in Occitanie region, southwestern France. The type species Canardia garonnensis was first described and named by Albert Prieto-Márquez, Fabio M. Dalla Vecchia, Rodrigo Gaete and Àngel Galobart in 2013. It is only known from juvenile specimens. The name of the genus comes from “canard”, the French word for “duck”, an allusion to the fact that this animal belongs to the hadrosaurids which are also known as duck-billed dinosaurs. The specific epithet garonnensis refers to the Haute-Garonne department where this dinosaur has been found. Although universally recognized as a lambeosaurine, its precise position within them is debated. Some authors consider it as a close relative of the genus Aralosaurus from Central Asia with which it would form the tribe Aralosaurini, while others include it in a more derived clade, the Arenysaurini in which all lambeosaurines from Europe and North Africa are placed. Canardia was one of the last non-avian dinosaurs and lived between 67,5 and 66 my on the former Ibero-Armorican Island, which included much of France and Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tsintaosaurini</span> Extinct tribe of dinosaurs

Tsintaosaurini is a tribe of basal lambeosaurine hadrosaurs native to Eurasia. It is thought to contains the genera Tsintaosaurus, Pararhabdodon and Koutalisaurus, though some studies have questioned its existence as a natural grouping.

<i>Yehuecauhceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Yehuecauhceratops is a genus of horned centrosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Coahuila, Mexico. It contains a single species, Y. mudei, described from two partial specimens by Rivera-Sylva et al. in 2016 and formally named by Rivera-Sylva et al. in 2017. It was a small centrosaurine with a body length of 3 metres (9.8 ft), making it smaller than Agujaceratops and Coahuilaceratops, the other two ceratopsids in its environment; the three may have been ecologically segregated. A ridge bearing a single roughened projection near the bottom of the squamosal bone, which probably supported a small horn, allows Yehuecauhceratops to be distinguished from other centrosaurines. Its affinities to nasutoceratopsin centrosaurines, such as Avaceratops and Nasutoceratops, are supported by various morphological similarities to the former.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arenysaurini</span> Extinct tribe of dinosaurs

Arenysaurini is a proposed tribe of primitive lambeosaurine hadrosaurs. It is composed of genera found in Europe and North Africa during the end of the Cretaceous period, and has been suggested to unite all lambeosaurs from the former continent into a singular monophyletic group.

<i>Bisticeratops</i> Extinct genus of chasmosaurine dinosaurs

Bisticeratops is a genus of chasmosaurine ceratopsian from outcrops of the Campanian age Kirtland Formation found in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness in northwestern New Mexico, United States. The type and only species is B. froeseorum, known from a nearly complete skull.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Holroyd, Patricia A.; Hutchison, Howard J. (2016). "Fauna and setting of the Adelolophus hutchisoni type locality in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Wahweap Formation of Utah". PaleoBios. 33. doi: 10.5070/P9331031196 .
  2. Terry A. Gates; Eric K. Lund; Clint A. Boyd; Donald D. DeBlieux; Alan L. Titus; David C. Evans; Michael A. Getty; James I. Kirkland; Jeffrey G. Eaton (2013). "Ornithopod dinosaurs from the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument Region, Utah, and their role in paleobiogeographic and macroevolutionary studies". In Alan A. Titus; Mark A. Loewen (eds.). At the top of the Grand Staircase: the Late Cretaceous in Utah. Indiana University Press. pp. 463–481.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Terry A. Gates; Zubair Jinnah; Carolyn Levitt; Michael A. Getty (2014). "New hadrosaurid (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) specimens from the lower-middle Campanian Wahweap Formation of southern Utah". In David A. Eberth; David C. Evans (eds.). Hadrosaurs: Proceedings of the International Hadrosaur Symposium. Indiana University Press. pp. 156–173. ISBN   978-0-253-01385-9.
  4. Longrich, Nicholas R.; Suberbiola, Xabier Pereda; Pyron, R. Alexander; Jalil, Nour-Eddine (2021). "The first duckbill dinosaur (Hadrosauridae: Lambeosaurinae) from Africa and the role of oceanic dispersal in dinosaur biogeography". Cretaceous Research. 120: 104678. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104678 . S2CID   228807024.
  5. Ramírez-Velasco, Angel Alejandro (2022). "Phylogenetic and biogeography analysis of Mexican hadrosauroids". Cretaceous Research. 138: 105267. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105267. S2CID   249559319.
  6. Jinnah, Zubair (2013). "Tectonic and Sedimentary Controls, Age, and Correlation of the Upper Cretaceous Wahweap Formation, Southern Utah". In Alan A. Titus; Mark A. Loewen (eds.). At the top of the Grand Staircase: the Late Cretaceous in Utah. Indiana University Press. pp. 57–73.
  7. Eric K. Lund; Patrick M. O'Connor; Mark A. Loewen; Zubair A. Jinnah (2016). "A New Centrosaurine Ceratopsid, Machairoceratops cronusi gen et sp. nov., from the Upper Sand Member of the Wahweap Formation (Middle Campanian), Southern Utah". PLOS ONE. 11 (5): e0154403. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1154403L. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154403 . PMC   4871575 . PMID   27192148.