Koutalisaurus

Koutalisaurus (meaning "spoon lizard", in reference to the shape of the dentary) is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur. It is based on a mostly complete dentary from the Maastrichtian-age Upper Cretaceous Tremp Formation near the town of Abella de la Conca, Lleida, Spain. This dentary, IPS SRA 27, had previously been referred to Pararhabdodon,[1] but comes from a different locality, is based on non-comparable material, and has unusual characteristics.[2]

Koutalisaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 67.5–66 Ma
↓
Right dentary
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: †Ornithischia
Suborder: †Ornithopoda
Family: †Hadrosauridae
Subfamily: †Lambeosaurinae
Tribe: †Tsintaosaurini
Genus: †Koutalisaurus
Prieto-Márquez et al., 2006
Type species
†Koutalisaurus kohlerorum
Prieto-Márquez et al., 2006

The dentary is very elongate, and has a long toothless portion (the front of the jaw, including the end where the predentary would have been attached) that is bent steeply downward and inward, which would have given the jaw a spoon-like shape when complete. It is comparable in size, although on the small side and with unusual proportions (see above), compared to dentaries from other hadrosaurids.[2]

Prieto-Marquez et al. (2006) found the animal to be a hadrosaurid, but of uncertain placement within the family.[2] More recent work by Prieto-Marquez and Wagner suggests that it is the same as Pararhabdodon as originally thought.[3]

See also

References
  1. Casanovas, M.L, Pereda-Suberbiola, X., Santafé, J.V., and Weishampel, D.B. 1999. First lambeosaurine hadrosaurid from Europe: palaeobiogeographical implications. Geological Magazine 136(2):205-211.
  2. Prieto-Marquez, A., Gaete, R., Rivas, G., Galobart, Á., and Boada, M. 2006. Hadrosauroid dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of Spain: Pararhabdodon isonensis revisited and Koutalisaurus kohlerorum, gen. et sp. nov. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(4): 929-943.
  3. Prieto-Márquez, A.; Wagner, J.R. (2009). "Pararhabdodon isonensis and Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus: a new clade of lambeosaurine hadrosaurids from Eurasia". Cretaceous Research. online. preprint (5): 1238. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2009.06.005. hdl:2152/41080.
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