Ouranosaurus
| Ouranosaurus | ||||||||||||
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Ouranosaurus skeleton in the Museo di Storia Naturale in Venice |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Under chalk (late aptium ) | ||||||||||||
| 123 to 112.9 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ouranosaurus | ||||||||||||
| Taquet , 1976 | ||||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||||
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Ouranosaurus (after "Ourane", the Tuareg word for "bravery", with which the desert monitor is alsonamed, and "sauros" Greek for lizard) is a genus of ornithopod dinosaurs from the Iguanodontia group . The onlyspecies described so faris Ouranosaurus nigeriensis . She lived in the Lower Cretaceous (late Aptian ) about 123 to 113 million years ago in Africa. Two almost complete skeletons, one of which is missing a skull, were found in Niger ,WestAfrica.
features
Ouranosaurus was seven meters long and had a relatively short tail. It is very similar to the well-known Iguanodon , differs from it mainly by its dorsal sail formed by the elongated spinous processes of the vertebrae , which was similar to that of the unrelated Spinosaurus , but which lived in the same area at the same time , and perhaps carried a skin sail for thermoregulation . The spinous processes were up to nine times as high as the vertebral centra. The last vertebrae were flattened laterally, concave on the back (“opisthocoel”) and had zygapophyses (bone rods) protruding almost horizontally. Ouranosaurus had a total of 11 cervical, about 17 trunk, 6 sacrum - and more than 40 caudal vertebrae.
The hoofed foreleg of Ouranosaurus was narrower than that of Iguanodon and, in contrast to this, not suitable for grasping. The thumb of each hand carried a thorn, which was, however, significantly shorter than that of Iguanodon . Ouranosaurus may have moved both bi- and quadruped; for fast running, e.g. B. on the run from predatory dinosaurs, the animal probably only used its hind legs. The phalangeal formula of the three-toed hind foot is 0.3.4.5.0.
skull
The 67 centimeter long, 24 centimeter wide and 26 centimeter high skull of Ouranosaurus was flat on top, the snout pointed and lower than that of Iguanodon , the lower jaw flatter. Overall, it was wider than that of Iguanodon and similar to that of the hadrosaurs . Like Iguanodon , it had leaf-like, serrated teeth. The front jaws were toothless and ended in a kind of "duck bill". His skull was lower and wider than that of other iguanodons.
Systematics
Ouranosaurus is a little more developed than the Iguanodontia of the Lower Cretaceous and is close to the Iguanodont family line, but above Iguanodon and basal to Probactrosaurus , Protohadros and the hadrosaurs.
literature
- David B. Norman : Basal Iguanodontia. In: David B. Weishampel , Peter Dodson , Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 413-437.
Web links
- DinoData: Ouranosaurus nigeriensis ( Memento from April 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- The Paleobiology Database: Ouranosaurus Taquet 1976 (iguanodontid) .
Individual evidence
- ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, p. 292, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , online .