Probactrosaurus
Probactrosaurus | |
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Complete skeleton mounted at the Giga Dinosaur Exhibition 2017 | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | †Ornithischia |
Clade: | †Neornithischia |
Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
Superfamily: | †Hadrosauroidea |
Genus: | †Probactrosaurus Rozhdestvensky, 1966 |
Type species | |
†Probactrosaurus gobiensis | |
Synonyms | |
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Probactrosaurus (meaning "before
Discovery and species
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Dinosaurium%2C_Probactrosaurus_gobiensis_2.jpg/220px-Dinosaurium%2C_Probactrosaurus_gobiensis_2.jpg)
In 1959 and 1960 a Soviet-Chinese expedition uncovered the remains of a
The
In 1966 Rozhdestvensky also named a second species, Probactrosaurus alashanicus, based on fragmentary material. Its specific name refers to the Alxa League. In 2002 David B. Norman published a revision of the genus, in which he reported the holotype specimen of P. alashanicus, the back of a skull, had been lost after being dispatched from Moscow to Beijing. He concluded that the species was a synonym of P. gobiensis.[2]
In 1997
Description
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Probactrosaurus_Scale.svg/220px-Probactrosaurus_Scale.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Probactrosaurus_v3.jpg/220px-Probactrosaurus_v3.jpg)
Probactrosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur. In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 5.5 metres (18 feet) and its weight at one tonne.[5] Probactrosauurus was lightly built, with relatively long and slender arms and hands and only a small thumb spike. It had a narrow snout, an elongated lower jaw and tooth batteries, each consisting of a superimposed double row of flattened cheek teeth; a third row of replacement teeth was incipient. Probably predominantly quadrupedal, it shared some common features with the later duck-billed dinosaurs.[6]
Classification
Probactrosaurus was originally assigned by Rozhdestvenky to the Iguanodontidae.[1] Today it is seen as a basal member of the Hadrosauroidea, relatively closely related to the Hadrosauromorpha.[7]
See also
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
References
- ^ a b c A.K. Rozhdestvensky (1966). "Novyye iguanodonty iz Tsentral'noy Azii. Filogeneticheskiye i taksonomicheskiye v zaimootnosheniya pozdnikh Iguanodontidae i rannikh Hadrosauridae. [New iguanodonts from Central Asia. Phylogenetic and taxonomic interrelationships of late Iguanodontidae and early Hadrosauridae]". Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal. 3: 103–116.
- ^ .
- ^ J. Lü (1997). "A new Iguanodontidae (Probactrosaurus mazongshanensis sp. nov.) from Mazongshan area, Gansu Province, China". Sino-Japanese Silk Road Dinosaur Expedition. China Ocean Press, Beijing: 27–47.
- ISBN 978-0-253-01390-3.
- ^ Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 292
- ISBN 978-1-84028-152-1.
- .