Shantungosaurus
| Shantungosaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous 70 mya | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Restored skeletons | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | †Ornithopoda |
| Family: | †Hadrosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Saurolophinae |
| Tribe: | †Edmontosaurini |
| Genus: | †Shantungosaurus |
| Species: | †S. giganteus |
| Binomial name | |
| Shantungosaurus giganteus | |
Shantungosaurus was a huge hadrosaur found in the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Formation of the Shandong Peninsula in China. It was the largest known hadrosaur.
The skeleton of a medium-sized individual mounted at the Geological Institute of China in Beijing is 14.72 metres (48.3 ft) in length, and the type skull is 1.63 metres (5.3 ft) long. The weight of this genus is estimated at up to 16 tonnes (18 short tons). With a composite mounted skeleton 17 meters long (55.7 ft) it is the largest known ornithischian and the largest non-sauropod dinosaur.
It had an unusually long tail, presumably to counterbalance the great weight of the body at the animal's hips.
Like all hadrosaurs its beak was toothless, but its jaws were packed with around 1,500 tiny chewing teeth. A large hole near its nostrils may have been covered by a loose flap, which could be inflated to make sounds.
First described in 1973, Shantungosaurus is known from five incomplete skeletons.
References
- ↑ Glut, Donald F. (1997). "Shantungosaurus". Dinosaurs: the encyclopedia. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. pp. 816–817. ISBN 0-89950-917-7.
- ↑ Hu Chengzhi; et al. (2001). Shantungosaurus giganteus (in Chinese). Beijing: Geological Publishing House. pp. 123–135 [English abstract]. ISBN 7-116-03472-2.
- ↑ The dinosauria. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. 2004. ISBN 978-0-520-94143-4. OCLC 801843269.
- ↑ Zhao, X.; et al. (2007). "Zhuchengosaurus maximus from Shandong Province". Acta Geoscientia Sinica. 28 (2): 111–122. doi:10.1007/s10114-005-0808-x. S2CID 119700784.
- ↑ Palmer D., ed. (1999). The Marshall illustrated encyclopedia of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 148. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.