Lanzhousaurus

Lanzhousaurus (meaning "Lanzhou lizard") is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur. Lanzhousaurus lived in the Gansu region of what is now China during the Early Cretaceous (Barremian). A partial skeleton has been recovered from the Hekou Group. It was described by You, Ji and Li in 2005 and the type and only species is Lanzhousaurus magnidens.[1] It's been estimated to be about 10 meters (33 feet) in length and 6 tonnes (6.6 short tons) in weight.[2]

Lanzhousaurus
Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous, 130 Ma
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Skeletal mount of Lanzhousaurus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: †Ornithischia
Suborder: †Ornithopoda
Clade: †Styracosterna
Genus: †Lanzhousaurus
You, Ji & Li, 2005
Type species
Lanzhousaurus magnidens
You, Ji & Li, 2005

Dentition

The genus has been described as having "astonishingly huge teeth", among the largest for any herbivorous creature ever, which indicate it was a styracosternan iguanodont. The mandible, longer than one meter, suggests a very large size for the animal. Tooth enamel of this dinosaur was growing very rapidly.[3]

References
  1. You, H.-L. (2005) Lanzhousaurus magnidens from the Lower Cretraceous of Gansu province, China: The largest-toothed herbivorous dinosaur in the world. JVP 26(3) Abstracts pp. 142
  2. Paul, Gregory S. (2016). The princeton field guide to dinosaurs 2nd edition. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 319.
  3. Celina A. Suarez, Hai-Lu You, Marina B. Suarez, Da-Qing Li & J. B. Trieschmann (2017). Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Enamel Elongation (Amelogenesis) Rates for the Early Cretaceous Iguanodontian Dinosaur Lanzhousaurus magnidens. Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 15319 (2017). doi:10.1038/s41598-017-15653-6


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