Eolambia
Name: Eolambia
(Dawn Lambe - after the palaeontologist Lawrence Lambe).
Phonetic: E-oh-lam-be-ah.
Named By: James Kirkland - 1998.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Ornithopoda, Iguanodontia, Hadrosauroidea.
Species: E. caroljonesa
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain. Estimates range from 6 to
9 meters long.
Known locations: USA, Utah - Cedar Mountain
Formation, Mussentuchit Member.
Time period: Cenomanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and partial
skeletons of several individuals (adult and juvenile) as well as
eggs and embryos.
Eolambia was established after the remains of several individuals were found in the Carol Quarry of the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain formation, so named after Carol Jones who first discovered the remains with her husband Ramal in 1992. The name Eolambia means ‘dawn Lambe’, a reference to the last name of the famous American palaeontologist Lawrence Lambe. Lambe also had the hadrosaur Lambeosaurus named after him, and this ties with Eolambia as well since this genus is considered a more primitive form of ornithopod dinosaur than Lambeosaurus. The type species name of Eolambia, E. caroljonesa is in further honour to Carol Jones.
At
the time of writing,
the remains of at least eleven individual Eolambia
are known to
science, and between them most parts of the skeleton can be studied.
However, because all of the known individuals are known by only
partial remains, size estimates for Eolambia can
vary between
authors. At the time of its description, James Kirkland estimated
the length of Eolambia at nine meters long, but
in 2010, Gregory
S. Paul estimated the length at six meters.
Eolambia
was once considered
to be a hadrosaurid, and the most primitive lambeosaurine at that.
Today however it is now considered to be a hadrosauroid. For
clarification, Hadrosauroids are members of the Hadrosauroidea,
while hadrosaurids belong in the Hadrosauridae. Both of these groups
are for the classification of large ornithopod dinosaurs, but the
hadrosaurids are more developed (advanced in their physical
development) than hadrosauroids. In addition to this, Eolambia
has been considered to be closely related to Probactrosaurus.
Eolambia
lived at a time and
location that may have seen it living alongside armoured
dinosaurs such
as Peloroplites
and Animantarx,
other ornithopod dinosaurs like
Tenontosaurus,
and Zephyrosaurus,
as well as sauropods
like
Abydosaurus.
Predatory dinosaurs would have also been roaming around
the early cretaceous habitats of Utah, and although so far only known
from other members of the Cedar Mountains Formation, possible
contenders for predators of Eolambia might include
dinosaurs like the
large dromaeosaur
Utahraptor,
to the even bigger carcharodontosaurid
theropod Acrocanthosaurus.
Further reading
- A large primitive hadrosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah,
J. I. Kirkland & D. Burge - 1994.
- A new hadrosaurid from the upper Cedar Mountain Formation
(Albian-Cenomanian: Cretaceous) of eastern Utah - the oldest
known hadrosaurid (lambeosaurine?), J. I. Kirkland - 1998.
- A reassessment of the phylogenetic status of Eolambia caroljonesa
(Ornithischia: Iguanodontia), with comments on the North
American iguanodontian record, J. J. Head - 1999.
- Osteology of the Basal Hadrosauroid Eolambia caroljonesa
(Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Cedar Mountain Formation of
Utah, A. T. McDonald, J. Bird, J. I. Kirkland
& P. Dodson - 2012.
- Anatomy, taphonomy, and phylogenetic implications of a new specimen
of Eolambia caroljonesa (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Cedar
Mountain Formation, Utah, USA. - PLOS ONE. 12 (5): e0176896. - A. T.
McDonald, T. A. Gates, L. E. Zanno & P. J. Makovicky - 2017.
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