Name: Equijubus
(horse mane).
Phonetic: Ek-we-ju-bus.
Named By: H.-L. You, Z.-X. Luo, N. H.
Shubin, L. M. Witmer, Z.-L. Tang & F. Tang -
2003.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Hadrosauroidea.
Species: E. normani (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Roughly estimated at around 7 meters
long, though a complete specimen is unknown at the time of writing.
Known locations: China, Gansu Province.
Time period: Aptian of the Cretaceous
Fossil representation: Skull and jaws found
articulated, as well as a partial vertebral column inclduing 9
cervical (neck), 16 dorsal (back) and 6 sacral
(hip) vertebrae.
Equijubus seems to have been a primitive hadrosauroid from the early Cretaceous of China, though some have considered the genus to be more simply an iguanodont. Despite this, the skull of Equijubus lacks a palpebral bone, meaning that the eye did not have a bony projection jutting above it.
Further reading
- The earliest-known duck-billed dinosaur from deposits of late Early
Cretaceous age in northwest China and hadrosaur evolution. -
Cretaceous Research 24:348-355 - H.-L. You, Z.-X. Luo,
N. H. Shubin, L. M. Witmer, Z.-L. Tang & F.
Tang - 2003.
-
Dinosaur-associated Poaceae epidermis and phytoliths from the Early
Cretaceous of China. - National Science Review. 5 (5): 721–727. - Yan
Wu, Hai-Lu You & Xiao-Qiang Li - 2018.