Fukuisaurus

Last updated

Fukuisaurus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, Barremian
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Fukuisaurus skeletal mount.jpg
Reconstructed skeleton
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Clade: Ankylopollexia
Clade: Styracosterna
Genus: Fukuisaurus
Kobayashi & Azuma, 2003
Species:
F. tetoriensis
Binomial name
Fukuisaurus tetoriensis
Kobayashi & Azuma, 2003

Fukuisaurus (meaning "Fukui (Fortunate) lizard") is a genus of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now Japan. The type species is F. tetoriensis, which was named and described in 2003. [1]

Contents

Discovery and naming

Remains of Fukuisaurus were discovered in 1989, in Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture, in rocks from the Kitadani Formation, dating to the Barremian. The type species, Fukuisaurus tetoriensis, was described in 2003 by Yoshitsugu Kobayashi and Yoichi Azuma. The genus name refers to Fukui; the specific name to the geological Tetori Group. The type specimens or cotypes are FPDM-V-40-1, a right maxilla, and FPDM-V-40-2, a right jugal. Further elements of a skull and a right sternal plate had been recovered. [1] Since 2003 much more extensive finds have been made and much of the skeleton is now known. [2] [3]

Description

Reconstructed skeleton with holotype fossils in lower right hukuisaurusuQuan Shen Gu Ge .jpg
Reconstructed skeleton with holotype fossils in lower right

Fukuisaurus was a relatively small ornithopod. In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 4.5 meters and its weight at 400 kg. [4] Being a bipedal, optionally quadrupedal, animal, it was similar in general build to Iguanodon , Ouranosaurus and Altirhinus . According to the describers Fukuisaurus was exceptional in that its skull was not kinetic: the tooth-bearing maxilla would be so strongly fused to the vomer that a sideways chewing motion would have been impossible. [1]

Classification

Fukuisaurus was assigned by its describers to Iguanodontia, although the presence of a posterolateral process of the sternum indicated that it likely also belongs to Styracosterna. Their cladistic analysis showed that Fukuisaurus was more derived than Iguanodon and Ouranosaurus, but less derived than Altirhinus. [1] Ramírez-Velasco et al. (2012) found Fukuisaurus to be a basal member of Hadrosauroidea, [2] while Bertozzo et al. (2017) recovered it as a non-hadrosauroid styracostern. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Iguanodon</i> Ornithopod dinosaur genus from Early Cretaceous period

Iguanodon, named in 1825, is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. While many species found worldwide have been classified in the genus Iguanodon, dating from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, taxonomic revision in the early 21st century has defined Iguanodon to be based on one well-substantiated species: I. bernissartensis, which lived during the Barremian to early Aptian ages of the Early Cretaceous in Belgium, Germany, England, and Spain, between about 126 and 122 million years ago. Iguanodon was a large, bulky herbivore, measuring up to 9–11 metres (30–36 ft) in length and 4.5 metric tons in body mass. Distinctive features include large thumb spikes, which were possibly used for defense against predators, combined with long prehensile fifth fingers able to forage for food.

<i>Hadrosaurus</i> Hadrosaurid dinosaur genus from the Late Cretaceous

Hadrosaurus is a genus of hadrosaurid ornithopod dinosaurs that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous Period in what is now the Woodbury Formation about 78-80 Ma. The holotype specimen was found in fluvial marine sedimentation, meaning that the corpse of the animal was transported by a river and washed out to sea.

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

Ouranosaurus is a genus of herbivorous basal hadrosauriform dinosaur that lived during the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous of modern-day Niger and Cameroon. Ouranosaurus measured about 7–8.3 metres (23–27 ft) long and weighed 2.2 metric tons. Two rather complete fossils were found in the Elrhaz Formation, Gadoufaoua deposits, Agadez, Niger, in 1965 and 1970, with a third indeterminate specimen known from the Koum Formation of Cameroon. The animal was named in 1976 by French paleontologist Philippe Taquet; the type species being Ouranosaurus nigeriensis. The generic name is a combination of ourane, a word with multiple meanings, and sauros, the Greek word for lizard. The specific epithet nigeriensis alludes to Niger, its country of discovery. And so, Ouranosaurus nigeriensis could be interpreted as "brave lizard originating from Niger".

<i>Fukuiraptor</i> Megaraptoran theropod dinosaur genus from the Early Cretaceous epoch

Fukuiraptor was a medium-sized megaraptoran theropod dinosaur of the Early Cretaceous epoch that lived in what is now Japan. Fukuiraptor is known from the Kitadani Formation and possibly also the Sebayashi Formation.

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

Altirhinus is a genus of hadrosauroid ornithopod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of Mongolia.

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

Eolambia is a genus of herbivorous hadrosauroid dinosaur from the early Late Cretaceous of the United States. It contains a single species, E. caroljonesa, named by paleontologist James Kirkland in 1998. The type specimen of Eolambia was discovered by Carole and Ramal Jones in 1993; the species name honors Carole. Since then, hundreds of bones have been discovered from both adults and juveniles, representing nearly every element of the skeleton. All of the specimens have thus far been found in Emery County, Utah, in a layer of rock known as the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadrosauroidea</span> Extinct clade of dinosaurs

Hadrosauroidea is a clade or superfamily of ornithischian dinosaurs that includes the "duck-billed" dinosaurs, or hadrosauridae, and all dinosaurs more closely related to them than to Iguanodon. Their remains have been recovered in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. Many primitive hadrosauroids, such as the Asian Probactrosaurus and Altirhinus, have traditionally been included in a paraphyletic "Iguanodontidae". With cladistic analysis, the traditional Iguanodontidae has been largely disbanded, and probably includes only Iguanodon and perhaps its closest relatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum</span> Natural history museum in Fukui Prefecture, Japan

The Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, located in Katsuyama, Fukui, Japan, is one of the leading dinosaur museums in Asia that is renowned for its exhibits of fossil specimens of dinosaurs and paleontological research. It is sited in the Nagaoyama Park near the Kitadani Dinosaur Quarry that the Lower Cretaceous Kitadani Formation of the Tetori Group is cropped out and a large number of dinosaur remains including Fukuiraptor kitadaniensis and Fukuisaurus tetoriensis are found and excavated.

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

The Kitadani Formation is a unit of Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock which crops out near the city of Katsuyama in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, and it is the primary source of Cretaceous-aged non-marine vertebrate fossils in Japan. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, but it also preserves a diverse assemblage of plants, invertebrates, and other vertebrates. Most, if not all, of the fossil specimens collected from the Kitadani Formation are reposited at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ankylopollexia</span> Extinct clade of dinosaurs

Ankylopollexia is an extinct clade of ornithischian dinosaurs that lived from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous. It is a derived clade of iguanodontian ornithopods and contains the subgroup Styracosterna. The name stems from the Greek word, “ankylos”, mistakenly taken to mean stiff, fused, and the Latin word, “pollex”, meaning thumb. Originally described in 1986 by Sereno, a most likely synapomorphic feature of a conical thumb spine defines the clade.

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

Huehuecanauhtlus is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of Michoacán, western Mexico. It contains a single species, Huehuecanauhtlus tiquichensis.

<i>Koshisaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Koshisaurus is a monospecific genus of basal hadrosauroid from the Kitadani Formation in Japan. The discovery of the genus suggests that hadrosauroids had higher diversity along the eastern margin of Asia in the Early Cretaceous. "Koshi" means an old Japanese regional name including Fukui prefecture where fossils of the genus were discovered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of hadrosaur research</span>

This timeline of hadrosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the hadrosauroids, a group of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaurs popularly known as the duck-billed dinosaurs. Scientific research on hadrosaurs began in the 1850s, when Joseph Leidy described the genera Thespesius and Trachodon based on scrappy fossils discovered in the western United States. Just two years later he published a description of the much better-preserved remains of an animal from New Jersey that he named Hadrosaurus.

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

Sirindhorna is a genus of hadrosauroid ornithopod dinosaur from Early Cretaceous deposits of northeastern Thailand.

Plagioolithus is an oogenus of fossil egg. It is from the Early Cretaceous of Japan. It was probably laid by a bird, making it the oldest known fossil bird egg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadrosauromorpha</span> Extinct clade of dinosaurs

Hadrosauromorpha is a clade of iguanodontian ornithopods, defined in 2014 by David B. Norman to divide Hadrosauroidea into the basal taxa with compressed manual bones and a pollex, and the derived taxa that lack them. The clade is defined as all the taxa closer to Edmontosaurus regalis than Probactrosaurus gobiensis. This results in different taxon inclusion depending on the analysis.

<i>Symmetrolestes</i> Extinct family of mammals

Symmetrolestes is an extinct genus of small spalacotheriid mammal from the Early Cretaceous period of Japan. The genus contains one species known as S. parvus, the type fossil is from fluvial deposits located in the Dinosaur Quarry in the Kitadani Formation, near the city of Katsuyama which lies alongside valley of the Sugiyamagawa River. It was described by Tsubamoto and Rougier in 2004 keeping the holotype at the National Science Museum, Tokyo, Japan.

<i>Tyrannomimus</i> Extinct genus of ornithomimosaurian dinosaurs

Tyrannomimus is an extinct genus of ornithomimosaurian theropod dinosaurs from the Kitadani Formation of Japan. The type species is Tyrannomimus fukuiensis.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kobayashi, Y. and Azuma, Y. (2003). "A new iguanodontian (Dinosauria; Ornithopoda), form the lower Cretaceous Kitadani Formation of Fukui Prefecture, Japan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(1): 166-175
  2. 1 2 Angel Alejandro Ramírez-Velasco; Mouloud Benammi; Albert Prieto-Márquez; Jesús Alvarado Ortega; René Hernández-Rivera (2012). "Huehuecanauhtlus tiquichensis, a new hadrosauroid dinosaur (Ornithischia: Ornithopoda) from the Santonian (Late Cretaceous) of Michoacán, Mexico". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 49 (2): 379–395. Bibcode:2012CaJES..49..379R. doi:10.1139/e11-062.
  3. 1 2 Bertozzo, Filippo; Dalla Vecchia, Fabio Marco; Fabbri, Matteo (2017). "The Venice specimen of Ouranosaurus nigeriensis (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda)". PeerJ. 5 (e3403): e3403. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3403 . PMC   5480399 . PMID   28649466.
  4. Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 286