Albertadromeus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | † Ornithischia |
Clade: | † Neornithischia |
Family: | † Thescelosauridae |
Subfamily: | † Orodrominae |
Genus: | † Albertadromeus Brown et al., 2013 |
Type species | |
†Albertadromeus syntarsus Brown et al., 2013 |
Albertadromeus is an extinct genus of orodromine thescelosaurid dinosaur known from the upper part of the Late Cretaceous Oldman Formation (middle Campanian stage) of Alberta, Canada. It contains a single species, Albertadromeus syntarsus. [1]
The composite term Albertadromeus is derived from the name of the Canadian province "Alberta", and the Greek word dromeus (δρομεύς) meaning "runner", a reference to its inferred cursorial nature; thus "runner from Alberta". The specific name, syntarsus is derived from Greek words "syn" (συν) meaning "together" and "tarsus" (ταρσός) meaning "ankle", hence "together-ankle" a reference to the condition where its distal fibula is fused to its distal tibia. This dinosaur was described and named by Caleb Marshall Brown, David C. Evans, Michael J. Ryan & Anthony P. Russell in 2013 and the type species is Albertadromeus syntarsus.
The holotype specimen of Albertadromeus TMP 2009.037.0044 consists of two dorsal vertebrae, a caudal vertebra, cervical ribs, ossified tendons, the left tibia and fibula, an incomplete right fibula, and a fragmentary metatarsal and ungual. The skull is unknown in this genus. The authors note that despite the few bones recovered, their moderate quality of preservation nonetheless provides enough morphological detail to allow for diagnosis on the species level. [1] Its elongate tibia has been strongly correlated with cursorial habits. [2] The tibia of Albertadromeus is slightly more elongate than that of Orodromeus , and significantly more elongate than that of Parksosaurus (ROM 804), Thescelosaurus (USNM 7757 and RSM P 1225.1), Hypsilophodon (NMHUK R5830), Dryosaurus (YPM 1876), and Stegoceras (UALVP 002). [1] Albertadromeus was a small-bodied, bipedal, cursorially adapted (built to run) neornithischian.
According to Brown et al. (2013) Albertadromeus can be distinguished based on the following characteristics: [1]
Brown et al. (2013) erected a new taxon Orodrominae to differentiate those species that are more closely related to Orodromeus from those more closely related to Thescelosaurus . The validity of this new taxon is supported by the following: (a) the foramen magnum is between 20% and 30% of the width of the occipital condyle; (b) the pubis is articulated with a sacral rib; (c) there is a sharp and pronounced scapular spine; and (d) the fibular shaft is D-shaped in cross-section. The new taxon Orodrominae includes the newly discovered dinosaur Albertadromeus, Zephyrosaurus , Orodromeus and Oryctodromeus . Phylogenetic analyses suggest that Albertadromeus forms a clade with Zephyrosaurus and Orodromeus, with Oryctodromeus being less closely related. The following is a cladogram based on the phylogenetic analysis conducted by Brown et al. in 2013, showing the relationships of Albertadromeus: [1]
Thescelosauridae |
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The remains of the type specimen of Albertadromeus was recovered in the Canal Creek locality in the Upper Oldman Formation, which is part of the Belly River Group in Alberta, Canada. The specimen was collected in a two-meter-thick fine to very fine sandstone unit that was deposited during the Campanian stage of the Cretaceous period, approximately 77 to 76 million years ago. This specimen is housed in the collection of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta.
Studies suggest that the paleoenvironment of the Oldman Formation was an ancient coastal plain. [3] This formation has produced the remains of the theropods Saurornitholestes , Daspletosaurus , Troodon , and Dromaeosaurus , the ceratopsids Albertaceratops , Chasmosaurus , Anchiceratops , and Coronosaurus , the hadrosaurids Brachylophosaurus , Gryposaurus , Parasaurolophus , Maiasaura , and Corythosaurus , as well as other dinosaurs that shared that their paleoenvironment with Albertadromeus.
Hypsilophodontidae is a traditionally used family of ornithopod dinosaurs, generally considered invalid today. It historically included many small bodied bipedal neornithischian taxa from around the world, and spanning from the Middle Jurassic until the Late Cretaceous. This inclusive status was supported by some phylogenetic analyses from the 1990s and mid 2000s, although there have also been many finding that the family is an unnatural grouping which should only include the type genus, Hypsilophodon, with the other genera being within clades like Thescelosauridae and Elasmaria. A 2014 analysis by Norman recovered a grouping of Hypsilophodon, Rhabdodontidae and Tenontosaurus, which he referred to as Hypsilophodontia. All other analyses from around the same time have instead found these latter taxa to be within Iguanodontia.
Alectrosaurus is a genus of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about some 96 million years ago in what is now the Iren Dabasu Formation.
Thescelosaurus was a genus of neornithischian dinosaur that appeared at the very end of the Late Cretaceous period in North America. It was a member of the last dinosaurian fauna before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event around 66 million years ago. The preservation and completeness of many of its specimens indicate that it may have preferred to live near streams.
Orodromeus is a genus of herbivorous orodromine thescelosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Only one species is known, the type species Orodromeus makelai.
Hypselosaurus is a dubious genus of titanosaurian sauropod that lived in southern France during the Late Cretaceous, approximately 70 million years ago in the early Maastrichtian. Hypselosaurus was first described in 1846, but was not formally named until 1869, when Phillip Matheron named it under the binomial Hypselosaurus priscus. The holotype specimen includes a partial hindlimb and a pair of caudal vertebrae, and two eggshell fragments were found alongside these bones. Because of the proximity of these eggshells to the fossil remains, many later authors, including Matheron and Paul Gervais, have assigned several eggs from the same region of France all to Hypselosaurus, although the variation and differences between these eggs suggest that they do not all belong to the same taxon. Hypselosaurus has been found in the same formation as the dromaeosaurids Variraptor and Pyroraptor, the ornithopod Rhabdodon, and the ankylosaurian Rhodanosaurus, as well as indeterminate bones from other groups.
Anodontosaurus is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaurs within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae. It is known from the entire span of the Late Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation of southern Alberta, Canada, and is also known from the Dinosaur Park Formation. It contains two species, A. lambei and A. inceptus.
Dyoplosaurus is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from Alberta that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Dinosaur Park Formation. Dyoplosaurus represents a close relative of Scolosaurus and Anodontosaurus, two ankylosaurids known from the Horseshoe Canyon and Dinosaur Park Formation.
Zephyrosaurus is a genus of orodromine ornithischian dinosaur. It is based on a partial skull and postcranial fragments discovered in the Aptian-Albian-age Lower Cretaceous Cloverly Formation of Carbon County, Montana, USA. New remains are under description, and tracks from Maryland and Virginia, also in the US, have been attributed to animals similar to Zephyrosaurus. It lived approximately 113 mya.
Aniksosaurus is a genus of avetheropod dinosaur from what is now Chubut Province, Argentina. It lived during the Cenomanian to Turonian of the Cretaceous period, between 96-91 million years ago. The type species, Aniksosaurus darwini, was formally described from the Bajo Barreal Formation of the Golfo San Jorge Basin by Rubén Dario Martínez and Fernando Emilio Novas in 2006; the name was first coined in 1995 and reported in the literature in 1997. The specific epithet honors Charles Darwin who visited Patagonia in 1832/1833 during the Voyage of the Beagle.
Tianzhenosaurus is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Shanxi Province that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Huiquanpu Formation. Tianzhenosaurus may represent a junior synonym of Saichania, an ankylosaurine known from the Barun Goyot and Nemegt Formation.
The Oldman Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Cretaceous age that underlies much of southern Alberta, Canada. It consists primarily of sandstones that were deposited in fluvial channel and floodplain environments. It was named for exposures along the Oldman River between its confluence with the St. Mary River and the city of Lethbridge, and it is known primarily for its dinosaur remains and other fossils.
Panoplosaurus is a genus of armoured dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. Few specimens of the genus are known, all from the middle Campanian of the Dinosaur Park Formation, roughly 76 to 75 million years ago. It was first discovered in 1917, and named in 1919 by Lawrence Lambe, named for its extensive armour, meaning "well-armoured lizard". Panoplosaurus has at times been considered the proper name for material otherwise referred to as Edmontonia, complicating its phylogenetic and ecological interpretations, at one point being considered to have existed across Alberta, New Mexico and Texas, with specimens in institutions from Canada and the United States. The skull and skeleton of Panoplosaurus are similar to its relatives, but have a few significant differences, such as the lumpy form of the skull osteoderms, a completely fused shoulder blade, and regularly shaped plates on its neck and body lacking prominent spines. It was a quadrupedal animal, roughly 5 m (16 ft) long and 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) in weight. The skull has a short snout, with a very domed surface, and bony plates directly covering the cheek. The neck had circular groups of plates arranged around the top surface, both the forelimb and hindlimb were about the same length, and the hand may have only included three fingers. Almost the entire surface of the body was covered in plates, osteoderms and scutes of varying sizes, ranging from large elements along the skull and neck, to smaller, round bones underneath the chin and body, to small ossicles that filled in the spaces between other, larger osteoderms.
Oryctodromeus was a genus of small orodromine thescelosaurid dinosaur. Fossils are known from the Late Cretaceous Blackleaf Formation of southwestern Montana and the Wayan Formation of southeastern Idaho, USA, both of the Cenomanian stage, roughly 105-96 million years ago. A member of the small, presumably fast-running herbivorous family Thescelosauridae, Oryctodromeus is the first non-avian dinosaur published that shows evidence of burrowing behavior.
Thescelosauridae is a clade of neornithischians from the Cretaceous of East Asia and North America. The group was originally used as a name by Charles M. Sternberg in 1937, but was not formally defined until 2013, where it was used by Brown and colleagues as the group uniting Thescelosaurus and Orodromeus, based on their phylogenetic results. During a phylogenetic revision of neornithischians by Clint Boyd in 2015, the authorship of Thescelosauridae was given to Brown and colleagues, which meant that the similar name Parksosauridae, informally defined in 2002 by Buchholz, would have had priority over Thescelosauridae. The two clades had slightly different definitions, with Parksosauridae referring to all animals closer to Parksosaurus than Hypsilophodon, but they contained the same taxa so Boyd used Parksosauridae under the assumption it had priority. However, in formalizing the clade following the regulations of the PhyloCode, Madzia, Boyd, and colleagues identified in 2021 that Sternberg was the proper authority for Thescelosauridae, giving it priority over Parksosauridae. As well, they gave Thescelosauridae the definition of the largest clade containing Thescelosaurus neglectus but not Iguanodon bernissartensis, as long as Hypsilophodon foxii was not in the group, modifying previous definitions for Thescelosauridae in order to maintain its modern use, so that the clade was not applied if Thescelosaurus fell within Hypsilophodontidae, a family that has not been recently used but may be revived if the systematic position of Hypsilophodon was solidified at some point in the future. Madzia et al. identified the analysis of Madzia et al. in 2018 as the reference analysis for the name Thescelosauridae, an analysis based on a revised version of the 2015 Boyd analysis.
Coronosaurus is a genus of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaurs which lived in the Late Cretaceous, in the middle Campanian stage. Its remains, two bone beds, were discovered by Phillip J. Currie in the Oldman Formation of Alberta, Canada, and its type and only species, Coronosaurus brinkmani, was first described in 2005, as a new species within the genus Centrosaurus. Later studies questioned the presence of a direct relationship, and in 2012 it was named as a separate genus. Coronosaurus means "crowned lizard", coming from "corona", Latin for crown, and "sauros", Greek for lizard; this name refers to the unique, crown-like shape of the horns on the top of its frill.
Oohkotokia is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae. It is known from the upper levels of the Two Medicine Formation of Montana, United States. The discovery of Oohkotokia supports that Ankylosaurine dinosaurs existed and flourished continuously in Montana and/or Alberta throughout the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian stages in the Late Cretaceous period. It was a large, heavily built, quadrupedal, herbivore, that could grow up to 5 metres (16 ft) long and weigh up to 2 metric tons.
Dongyangopelta is an monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur that lived in China during the Early to Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Chaochuan Formation. The type and only known species, Dongyangopelta yangyanensis, is known from a partial postcranial skeleton preserving osteoderms and ossified tendons. It was named in 2013 by Rongjun Chen, Wenjie Zheng, Yoichi Azuma, Masateru Shibata, Tianling Lou, Qiang Jin and Xinsheng Jin. Dongyangopelta represents one of the only nodosaurids known from Asia, along with Taohelong and Sauroplites.
Europelta is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from Spain that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now the lower Escucha Formation of the Teruel Province. The type and only species, Europelta carbonensis, is known from two associated partial skeletons, and represents the most complete ankylosaur known from Europe. Europelta was named in 2013 by James I. Kirkland and colleagues. Europelta has an estimated length of 5 metres and weight of 1.3 tonnes, making it the largest member of the clade Struthiosaurini.
Nhandumirim is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Carnian age of Late Triassic Brazil. It is currently considered a saturnaliid sauropodomorph. The type and only species, Nhandumirim waldsangae, is known from a single immature specimen including vertebrae, a chevron, pelvic material, and a hindlimb found in the Santa Maria Formation in Rio Grande do Sul.
Cryodrakon is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Canada. It contains a single species, Cryodrakon boreas, recovered from the Dinosaur Park Formation.