Shantungosaurus
genus of reptiles (fossil) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shantungosaurus was a huge hadrosaur found in the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Formation of the Shandong Peninsula in China. It was the largest known hadrosaur.
Shantungosaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous 70 mya | |
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Restored skeletons | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Order: | †Ornithischia |
Suborder: | †Ornithopoda |
Family: | †Hadrosauridae |
Subfamily: | †Saurolophinae |
Tribe: | †Edmontosaurini |
Genus: | †Shantungosaurus |
Species: | †S. giganteus |
Binomial name | |
Shantungosaurus giganteus | |
The skeleton of a medium-sized individual mounted at the Geological Institute of China in Beijing is 14.72 metres (48.3 ft) in length,[1] and the type skull is 1.63 metres (5.3 ft) long.[2] The weight of this genus is estimated at up to 16 tonnes (18 short tons).[3] With a composite mounted skeleton 17 meters long (55.7 ft) it is the largest known ornithischian and the largest non-sauropod dinosaur.[4]
It had an unusually long tail, presumably to counterbalance the great weight of the body at the animal's hips.[5]
Like all hadrosaurs its beak was toothless, but its jaws were packed with around 1,500 tiny chewing teeth. A large hole near its nostrils may have been covered by a loose flap, which could be inflated to make sounds.
First described in 1973, Shantungosaurus is known from five incomplete skeletons.