Aralosaurus

Ah-ral-o-sore-us.
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Nisha Yadav

Physicist

Nisha Yadav is a dedicated physicist whose work bridges the gap between physics and paleontology. With a deep interest in the processes that preserve ancient life, she explores how physical principles govern fossilization and the preservation of extinct species.

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Name

Aralosaurus ‭(‬Aral lizard‭ ‬-‭ ‬after the Aral sea‭).

Phonetic

Ah-ral-o-sore-us.

Named By

Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky‭ ‬-‭ ‬1968.

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Ornithopoda,‭ ‬Hadrosauridae, Aralsaurinae.

Diet

Uncertain due to lack of fossil material.

Species

A.‭ ‬tuberiferus‭

Size

Roughly‭ ‬8‭ ‬meters long.

Known locations

Kazakhstan.

Time Period

Campanian of the Cretaceous.

Fossil representation

Skull fragment.

In Depth

       Out of all the hadrosaurs‭ (‬popularly known as duckbilled dinosaurs‭) ‬Aralosaurus is noted for having extremely little in the way of fossil material attributed to it‭; ‬a piece of the skull.‭ ‬This piece however does suggest the presence of an arched nasal area similar to that seen in other genera such as Gryposaurus which might suggest a saurolophine lineage for Aralosaurus.‭ ‬Other information that is occasionally attributed to this dinosaur in other sources is done so as a result of comparisons to other much better documented genera.

       Another hadrosaurid dinosaur from Kazakhstan is Jaxartosaurus.

Further Reading

-‭ ‬Gadrozavry Kazakhstana‭ [‬Hadrosaurs of Kazakhstan‭]‬,‭ ‬Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky‭ ‬-‭ ‬1968. – A re-appraisal of “Aralosaurus tuberiferus” (Dinosauria, Hadrosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan. – Bulletin de l’Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre (74): 139–154. – P. Godefroit, V. Alifanov & Y. Boltsky – 2004.

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