Lanzhousaurus
Name:
Lanzhousaurus.
Phonetic: Lan-zoo-sor-us.
Named By: Geological Bulletin of China
24(9):785-794 - H. You, Q. Ji & D. Li -
2005.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithishcia, Ornithopoda, Ankylopollexia, Styracosterna.
Species: L. magnidens
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Holotype jaw reconstructed at a length of
about one meter. Teeth measured at up to fourteen centimetres.
Known locations: China.
Time period: Barremian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial jaw and some partial
post cranial remains including cervical and dorsal vertebrae, ribs
and a partial pelvis.
Reconstructions of Lanzhousaurus are sketchy at best, but with a jaw length of one meter, it is near certain that in life Lanzhousaurus would have been a very large ornithopod dinosaur. Following this trend, the teeth that have been preserved in the lower jaw are also unusually large, and at fourteen centimetres in length each, are actually the largest known for any plant eating animal ever (functional processing teeth as opposed to tusks). Why did Lanzhousaurus have such large teeth? The answer is we just don’t know yet for certain, though it was almost certainly for some kind of adaptation, specialist feeding or otherwise.
Further reading
- Lanzhousaurus magnidens gen. et sp. nov.
from Gansu
Province, China: the largest-toothed herbivorous dinosaur in the
world. - Geological Bulletin of China 24(9):785-794 - H.
You, Q. Ji & D. Li - 2005.
- Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Enamel Elongation (Amelogenesis) Rates
for the Early Cretaceous Iguanodontian Dinosaur Lanzhousaurus
magnidens. - Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 15319 (2017). -
Celina A. Suarez, Hai-Lu You, Marina B. Suarez, Da-Qing Li & J.
B. Trieschmann - 2017.
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