Probrachylophosaurus

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Probrachylophosaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 79  Ma
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Probrachylophosaurus.PNG
Skull
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Family: Hadrosauridae
Subfamily: Saurolophinae
Genus: Probrachylophosaurus
Freedman Fowler & Horner, 2015
Species:
P. bergei
Binomial name
Probrachylophosaurus bergei
Freedman Fowler & Horner, 2015

Probrachylophosaurus bergei is a species of large herbivorous brachylophosaurin hadrosaurid dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous Campanian Judith River Formation, of Montana and the Foremost Formation of Alberta. [1]

Contents

The significance of this particular hadrosaur taxon is that it is a transitional species between the genera Acristavus and Brachylophosaurus evolving from a crestless ancestor (the former genus) to its crested descendant (the latter genus) while changing the morphology of its nasal bones. [2]

Discovery and naming

Brachylophosaurini localities, Probrachylophosaurus marked with red star Brachylophosaurini localities.PNG
Brachylophosaurini localities, Probrachylophosaurus marked with red star

In 1981 and 1994, Mark Goodwin of the University of California Museum of Paleontology excavated limb bones and a vertebra near Rudyard in the north of Montana, at a site originally discovered by Kyoko Kishi. After a school class found some more bones, in 2007 and 2008 a team of the Museum of the Rockies secured the remainder of a hadrosaur skeleton, among which the skull. The fossil was donated to the Museum of the Rockies by land owners Nolan and Cheryl Fladstol; and John and Claire Wendland. [2] In 2009, 2010 and 2011, the find was reported in the scientific literature as a possible new species of Brachylophosaurus. [3] [4] [5]

In 2015, the type species Probrachylophosaurus bergei was named and described by Elizabeth A. Freedman Fowler and Jack Horner. The generic name is a combination of Latin pro, "before", and Brachylophosaurus and refers to the genus being situated in a lower position in the stratification than its relative Brachylophosaurus. The specific name honours Sam Berge, one of the landowners, and his friends who have supported the research. [2] Probrachylophosaurus was one of eighteen dinosaur taxa from 2015 to be described in open access or free-to-read journals. [6]

The holotype, MOR 2919, was found in a layer of the Judith River Formation dating from the Campanian and being between 79.8 and 79.5 million years old, plus or minus two hundred thousand years. It consists of a partial skeleton with skull, of an adult individual. It contains the right premaxilla, both maxillae, the left jugal, a part of the right lacrimal, the rear of a left nasal bone, the middle part of a right nasal bone, the skull roof from the frontal bones to the exoccipitals, both squamosals, both quadrate bones, the predentary of the lower jaws, both dentaries, a right surangular, eleven neck vertebrae, eleven back vertebrae, twenty-nine tail vertebrae, nineteen chevron bones, nineteen ribs, the entire pelvis, both lower legs, a right second metatarsal and a right fourth metatarsal. The bones have not been found in articulation. [2]

Specimen MOR 1097, a fragmentary skull of a subadult individual, was referred to the species. It had been found at a kilometre distance from the holotype. [2]

Description

Nasal crests Probrachylophosaurus nasal crests.PNG
Nasal crests

Probrachylophosaurus is a large hadrosaurid. Its holotype is the largest brachysaurolophin specimen known. [2] Because of this size the fossil has been nicknamed "Super-Duck". Its size has been estimated at 10 metres (33 ft) in length and 5 metric tons (5.5 short tons) in body mass. [7] Recent body mass estimate suggests that it reached more than 4.3 metric tons (4.7 short tons). [8]

Braincase of subadult Brachylophosaurus specimen MOR 940 Subadult Brachylophosaurus braincase.PNG
Braincase of subadult Brachylophosaurus specimen MOR 940

In 2015, several distinguishing traits were established. Two of these are autapomorphies, unique derived characters. The skull crest is made of massive bone and is entirely formed by the nasal bones which, in adult individuals, overhang the supratemporal fenestrae over a distance of less than two centimetres. This crest is at its midline extremely thickened, resulting at the position of the rear frontals bones it overgrowths, in a pointed strongly triangular transverse cross-section, the upper angle of which in rear view is less than 130°. Additionally, these autapomorphies form a unique combination with traits that in themselves are not unique. This Dinomon learns the moves "Ancient Roar, Dragon Tail, Rock Slide, and Earthquake." This Dinomon has a base stat total of 580, with the ability "Simple", which doubles all stats that are added. The rear lacrimal bone is transversely wide as in Acristavus but not Brachylophosaurus. Of the front branch of the jugal, the lower corner is positioned behind the level of the upper corner, as with Acristavus but not Brachylophosaurus. The squamosals touch each other at the skull midline as with Acristavus but not Brachylophosaurus. The nasal bone skull crest is massive and almost horizontally oriented to the rear as in Brachylophosaurus but different from Acristavus. [2]

Classification

Life restoration Probrachylophosaurus bergei.png
Life restoration
Cervical and dorsal vertebrae Probrachylophosaurus vertebrae.PNG
Cervical and dorsal vertebrae
Skull cast Probrachylophosaurus.jpg
Skull cast

Probrachylophosaurus was, within the Hadrosaurinae, placed in the Brachylophosaurini by the describing authors. Adding the traits of Probrachylophosaurus to two earlier datasets of cladistic analyses, resulted in slightly conflicting positions. In one analysis it was recovered as the sister species of Brachylophosaurus; in the other as a sister species of a clade consisting of Brachylophosaurus and Maiasaura . In both evolutionary trees Acristavus was in a more basal position. The authors suggested that Acristavus might have been a direct ancestor of Probrachylophosaurus and the latter, in view of its intermediate smaller crest form, again an ancestor of Brachylophosaurus that lived about 1.5 million years later. [2]

The revised analysis of Albert Prieto-Márquez resulted in the following evolutionary tree: [2]

  Iguanodontia  

Iguanodon

Bactrosaurus

  Hadrosauridae  

Hadrosaurus

  Saurolophidae  

Wulagasaurus

Corythosaurus

  Saurolophinae  

Secernosaurus

Kritosaurus

Gryposaurus

  Brachylophosaurini  

Acristavus

Probrachylophosaurus

Brachylophosaurus

Maiasaura

Edmontosaurus

Prosaurolophus

Saurolophus

Paleobiology

Tibial histology of MOR 2919 Probrachylophosaurus histology.PNG
Tibial histology of MOR 2919

The describing article also published the result of histological research of the bone structure of the left shinbone of the type specimen. This bone showed fourteen LAGs, lines of arrested growth, that likely represented yearly seasons of low food intake. The age of the holotype would thus be about fourteen years. The distance between the lines indicated this individual had not yet reached its maximum size, but closely approached it, proof that it was not simply a subadult Brachylophosaurus specimen with a small crest. [2]

The lines also showed a general slowing of the growth after the fifth year. This could have been an indication sexual maturity was reached at that age. If so, the onset of maturity was about two years later than with Maiasaura . [2]

Related Research Articles

<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.

<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 Late Jurassic/Early 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, and South America.

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

Corythosaurus is a genus of hadrosaurid "duck-billed" dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period, about 77–75.7 million years ago, in what is now western North America. Its name is derived from the Greek word κόρυς, meaning "helmet", named and described in 1914 by Barnum Brown. Corythosaurus is now thought to be a lambeosaurine, thus related to Lambeosaurus, Nipponosaurus, Velafrons, Hypacrosaurus, and Olorotitan. Corythosaurus has an estimated length of 7.7–9 metres (25–30 ft) and has a skull, including the crest, that is 70.8 centimetres tall.

<i>Edmontosaurus</i> Hadrosaurid dinosaur genus from Late Cretaceous US and Canada

Edmontosaurus, often colloquially and historically known as Anatosaurus or Anatotitan, is a genus of hadrosaurid (duck-billed) dinosaur. It contains two known species: Edmontosaurus regalis and Edmontosaurus annectens. Fossils of E. regalis have been found in rocks of western North America that date from the late Campanian age of the Cretaceous period 73 million years ago, while those of E. annectens were found in the same geographic region from rocks dated to the end of the Maastrichtian age, 66 million years ago. Edmontosaurus was one of the last non-avian dinosaurs to ever exist, and lived alongside dinosaurs like Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and Pachycephalosaurus shortly before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

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

Maiasaura is a large herbivorous saurolophine hadrosaurid ("duck-billed") dinosaur genus that lived in the area currently covered by the state of Montana and the province of Alberta, Canada, in the Upper Cretaceous Period, about 76.7 million years ago. Maiasaura peeblesorum is the state fossil of Montana.

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

Parasaurolophus is a genus of hadrosaurid "duck-billed" dinosaur that lived in what is now western North America and possibly Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about 76.5–66 million years ago. It was a large herbivore that could reach over 9 metres (30 ft) long and weigh over 5 metric tons, and were able to move as a biped and 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, New Mexico, and Utah, as well as possibly Heilongjiang if Charonosaurus is in fact part of the genus. The genus was first described in 1922 by William Parks from a skull and partial skeleton found in Alberta.

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

Brachylophosaurus was a mid-sized member of the hadrosaurid family of dinosaurs. It is known from several skeletons and bonebed material from the Judith River Formation of Montana, the Wahweap Formation of Utah and the Oldman Formation of Alberta, living about 81-76.7 million years ago.

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

Hypacrosaurus was a genus of duckbill dinosaur similar in appearance to Corythosaurus. Like Corythosaurus, it had a tall, hollow rounded crest, although not as large and straight. It is known from the remains of two species that spanned 75 to 67 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada, and Montana, United States, and is the latest hollow-crested duckbill known from good remains in North America. It was an obscure genus until the discovery in the 1990s of nests, eggs, and hatchlings belonging to H. stebingeri.

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

Gryposaurus was a genus of duckbilled dinosaur that lived about 80 to 75 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous of North America. Named species of Gryposaurus are known from the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada, and two formations in the United States: the Lower Two Medicine Formation in Montana and the Kaiparowits Formation of Utah. A possible additional species from the Javelina Formation in Texas may extend the temporal range of the genus to 66 million years ago.

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

Olorotitan was a monotypic genus of lambeosaurine duck-billed dinosaur, containing a single species, Olorotitan arharensis. It was among the last surviving non-avian dinosaurs to go extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, having lived from the middle to late Maastrichtian-age of the Late Cretaceous era. The remains were found in the Udurchukan Formation beds of Kundur, Arkharinsky District, Amur Oblast, Eastern Russia, in the vicinity of the Amur River.

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

Barsboldia is a genus of large hadrosaurid dinosaur from the early Maastrichtian Nemegt Formation of Ömnogöv', Mongolia. It is known from a partial vertebral column, partial pelvis, and some ribs.

<i>Nipponosaurus</i> Hadrosaurid dinosaur genus from Late Cretaceous Japan

Nipponosaurus is a lambeosaurine hadrosaur from sediments of the Yezo Group, in Sinegorsk on the island of Sakhalin, which was part of Japan at the time of the species' classification. The type and only species is N. sachalinensis, known only from a single juvenile specimen discovered in 1934 and named in 1936, by Takumi Nagao, with further material of the same individual found in 1937. Since then, the taxon has been largely ignored, and its validity has been doubted, with synonymy with other Asian hadrosaurs or status as a nomen dubium being suggested. Redescriptions from 2004 and 2017, however, have supported recognition as a distinct species. Dating the only specimen has been difficult, but based on associated mollusc taxa, the species likely lived sometime in the upper Santonian or lower Campanian, around 80 million years ago.

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

Prosaurolophus is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America. It is known from the remains of at least 25 individuals belonging to two species, including skulls and skeletons, but it remains obscure. Its fossils have been found in the late Campanian-age Upper Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, and the roughly contemporaneous Two Medicine Formation in Montana, dating to around 75.5-74.0 million years ago. Its most recognizable feature is a small solid crest formed by the nasal bones, sticking up in front of the eyes.

<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.

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

Brachylophosaurini is a tribe of saurolophine hadrosaurs with known material being from N. America and potentially Asia. It contains at least four taxa; Acristavus, Brachylophosaurus, Maiasaura, and Probrachylophosaurus. A hadrosaur from the Amur river, Wulagasaurus, might be a member of this tribe, but this is disputed. The group was defined by Terry A. Gates and colleagues in 2011.

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

Latirhinus is an extinct genus of lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mexico. The type species, Latirhinus uitstlani, was named in 2012 on the basis of a partial skeleton from the Campanian-age Cerro del Pueblo Formation. The specific name uitstlani means "southern" in the Náhuatl language of Mexico, a reference to the species' southern occurrence in the Cretaceous landmass Laramidia.

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

Albertadromeus is an extinct genus of orodromine thescelosaurid dinosaur known from the upper part of the Late Cretaceous Oldman Formation of Alberta, Canada. It contains a single species, Albertadromeus syntarsus.

<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>Dynamoterror</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Dynamoterror is a monospecific genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the upper Allison Member of the Menefee Formation. The type and only species, Dynamoterror dynastes, is known from a subadult or adult individual about 9 metres long with an incomplete associated skeleton. It was named in 2018 by Andrew T. McDonald, Douglas G. Wolfe and Alton C. Dooley, Jr. Dynamoterror was closely related to Teratophoneus and Lythronax.

<i>Ornatops</i> Genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period

Ornatops is a genus of brachylophosaurin saurolophine hadrosaur from the Late Cretaceous Menefee Formation of New Mexico, United States. The genus contains a single species, Ornatops incantatus.

References

  1. Thompson, Michael G.W.; Bedek, Fern V.; Schröder-Adams, Claudia; Evans, David C.; Ryan, Michael J. (2021-10-01). "The oldest occurrence of brachylophosaurin hadrosaurids in Canada". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 58 (10): 993–1004. Bibcode:2021CaJES..58..993T. doi:10.1139/cjes-2020-0007. ISSN   0008-4077. S2CID   238720084.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Fowler, Elizabeth A. Freedman, and John R. Horner. "A New Brachylophosaurin Hadrosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) with an Intermediate Nasal Crest from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Northcentral Montana." PLOS One 10.11 (2015): e0141304.
  3. Freedman, E.A., 2009, "Variation in nasal crest size of Brachylophosaurus canadensis (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae): Ontogenetic and stratigraphic implications of a large new specimen from the Judith River Formation of northcentral Montana", Abstracts of papers, Sixty-ninth Annual Meeting, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology29 (3): 99A-100A
  4. Freedman, E.A., and Fowler, D.W., 2010, "Stratigraphic correlation of Judith River Formation (Campanian, Upper Cretaceous) exposures in Kennedy Coulee (northcentral Montana) to the Foremost Formation (Alberta): implications for anagenesis in hadrosaurid dinosaurs", Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, SVP Program and Abstracts Book, 92
  5. Freedman, E.A., 2011, "A new species of Brachylophosaurus (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae) from the Judith River Formation (Late Cretaceous: Campanian) of northcentral Montana", International Hadrosaur Symposium, Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta. Abstract Volume, 53-54
  6. "The Open Access Dinosaurs of 2015". PLOS Paleo. Archived from the original on 2017-07-15. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  7. Paul, Gregory S. (2016). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press. p. 336. ISBN   978-1-78684-190-2. OCLC   985402380.
  8. Wosik, M.; Chiba, K.; Therrien, F.; Evans, D.C. (2020). "Testing Size–frequency Distributions As a Method of Ontogenetic Aging: A Life-history Assessment of Hadrosaurid Dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada, with Implications for Hadrosaurid Paleoecology". Paleobiology. 46 (3): 379–404. doi: 10.1017/pab.2020.2 .