Fukuisaurus

Fukuisaurus; Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, Barremian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Reconstructed skeleton
Scientific classification
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]

Discovery and naming

Remains of Fukuisaurus were discovered in 1989, in

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

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

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]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d 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
^
doi:10.1139/e11-062
.

^
PMID 28649466
.

^ Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 286

[Azuma2003-1] 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

[Huehuecanauhtlus-2] 
doi:10.1139/e11-062
.

[bertozzo2017-3] 
PMID 28649466
.

[4] Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 286

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