Probactrosaurus
Name:
Probactrosaurus
(Before Bactrosaurus).
Phonetic: Pro-bak-trow-sore-us.
Named By: Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky
- 1966.
Synonyms: Probactrosaurus alshanicus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Ornithopoda, Iguanodontia.
Species: P. gobiensis
(type), P. mazongshanensis?
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Estimated about 5.5 meters long.
Known locations: Mongolia - Dashuigou
Formation. Possibly also China, Gansu Province - Lower Red Unit
Formation.
Time period: Barremian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial remains.
Sometimes
dubbed the ‘Asian Iguanodon’, Probactrosaurus
is no way near as
well-known as its older and far more famous relative (which was
actually the second dinosaur genus named, and the first one named
that ate plants). At roughly five and a half meters in length
Probactrosaurus was actually quite small when
compared to its other
relatives, some of which grew to around twice this size, and
larger. Like them, Probactrosaurus would have
been a primarily
quadrupedal dinosaur that still had the ability to rear up and walk
around on just its back legs for short periods at a time, especially
when feeding and they had to reach up browse upon high growing
vegetation that would have otherwise been out of their reach.
Two
further species were once attributed to Probactrosaurus.
P.
alshanicus was based upon partial remains with the holotype
specimen
of the back of the skull eventually becoming lost. In modern times
this species is often regarded as being a synonym of the type species.
P. mazongshanensis, named from fossils
recovered in the Gansu
Province of China were later found to be more similar to other
ornithopod genera such as Altirhinus
and Equijubus
rather than the
type species of Probactrosaurus. Because this
second species is now
considered to be of a dubious assignment, the full name often has
the genus part in quotations so that it looks like “Probactrosaurus”
mazongshanensis. In the future the fossils of
this species may one
day be assigned to another genus.
Probactrosaurus
has been considered to be related to another genus of iguanodont from
Thailand called Siamodon.
Further reading
- Novye igyanodonti ie tsentrallinoy Asii. Phillogeneticheskye y
taksonomicheskye veaimoothoshenia poednich Iguanodontidae y rannich
Hadrosauridae [New iguanodonts from central Asia], Anatoly
Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky - 1966.
- A new Iguanodontidae (Probactrosaurus mazongshanensis
sp.
nov.) from Mazongshan area, Gansu Province, China, J. lu
- 1997.
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