Anasazisaurus
Name:
Anasazisaurus
(Anasazi lizard).
Phonetic: An-ah-sah-ze-sore-us.
Named By: Adrian P. Hunt & Spencer G.
Lucas - 1993.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Ornithopoda, Hadrosauridae, Saurolophinae.
Species: A. horneri (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Skull about 90 centimetres long. Total
size uncertain.
Known locations: USA, New Mexico - Kirtland
Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skull.
Anasazisaurus
is currently only known from a single skull, but one that has a
flange of bone rising from the top of its snout. Because this crest
is solid, Anasazisaurus has been identified as a
saurolophine
hadrosaurid.
The skull of Anasazisaurus was once
attributed to the
genus Kritosaurus,
but because the skull contains several unique
features it was used to create its own genus. While most consider
this to be correct however, some have questioned the move suggesting
that the skull should be re-classified as belonging to Kritosaurus.
Anasazisaurus
lived alongside other hadrosaurs such as Parasaurolophus
as well as
ceratopsians
like Pentaceratops
and Titanoceratops.
Predatory threats
likely came from tyrannosaurs
like Bistahieversor.
Further reading
- Cranial morphology of Prosaurolophus
(Ornithischia:
Hadrosauridae) with descriptions of two new hadrosaurid species and
an evaluation of hadrosaurid phylogenetic relationships. - Museum
of the Rockies Occasional Paper 2: 1–119. - John R. Horner
- 1992.
- Cretaceous vertebrates of New Mexico. - In Lucas, S.G.; and
Zidek, J. (eds.). Dinosaurs of New Mexico. New Mexico Museum
of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 2. Albuquerque, New
Mexico: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. pp.
77–91. - Adrian P. Hunt & Spencer G. Lucas -
1993.
Anasazisaurus, a hadrosaurian dinosaur from the
Upper Cretaceous of
New Mexico. - In Lucas, S.G.; and Sullivan, Robert M.
(eds.). Late Cretaceous Vertebrates from the Western Interior.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 35.
Albuquerque, New Mexico: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and
Science. pp. 293–297. - Spencer G. Lucas, Justin A.
Spielman, Robert M. Sullivan, Adrian O. Hunt & Terry
Gates - 2006.
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