Tsintaosaurus

Name: Tsintaosaurus ‭(‬Qingdao lizard‭)‬.
Phonetic: Sin-dow-sore-us.
Named By: C.‭ ‬C.‭ ‬Young‭ ‬-‭ ‬1958.
Synonyms: Tanius laiyangensis.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Ornithopoda,‭ ‬Hadrosauridae,‭ ‬Lambeosaurinae.
Species: T.‭ ‬spinorhinus‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Up to 10‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: China,‭ ‬Shandong Province.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: At least two individuals,‭ ‬possibly more.




       One of the more popular hadrosaurids,‭ ‬Tsintaosaurus is actually not known by many individuals.‭ ‬The popularity of Tsintaosaurus is all down to the forward pointing crest that adorns the top of the skull.‭ ‬There was one widespread speculation that this crest was simply a product of the fossilisation process,‭ ‬and that the bone that made up the crest was actually from somewhere else,‭ ‬something that further led to speculation that Tsintaosaurus was actually the same genus of dinosaur as the hadrosauroid Tanius.‭ ‬A further specimen was eventually found however,‭ ‬and again the forward pointing crest was evident and in exactly the same place as the first.‭ ‬This revealed that the crest is indeed that same as it was in the living animals and that while both Tsintaosaurus and Tanius are related,‭ ‬they are very different genera. In 2013 a study (Prieto-Márquez & Wagner) resulted in a new reconstruction for the head crest for Tsintaosaurus. Instead of a simples spike, the crest actually rose up from the nasal bones and curved around above the back of the skull.
       Like with other hadrosaurs,‭ ‬would have probably been primarily quadrupedal,‭ ‬though bipedal stances and locomotion were also easily possibly.‭ ‬This flexibility meant that Tsintaosaurus were also capable of feeding at varying heights,‭ ‬increasing the amount of suitable plants for feeding.‭ ‬Because the crest of Tsintaosaurus is hollow it is classed as a lambeosaurine hadrosaurid,‭ ‬the group that contains all hadrosaurids that have hollow crests‭ (‬after the type genus of the group Lambeosaurus,‭ ‬the first hollow crested hadrosaurid identified‭)‬.‭ ‬As a reasonably large animal,‭ ‬and a plant eater,‭ ‬Tsintaosaurus was likely prey for large predatory dinosaurs of the time such as tyrannosaurs like Zhuchengtyrannus.

Further reading
- The dinosaurian remains of Laiyang, Shantung. - Palaeontologia Sinica, New Series C. Whole Number. 42 (16): 1–138. - C. -C. Young - 1958.
- Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus Young and Tanius sinensis Wiman: a preliminary comparative study of two hadrosaurs (Dinosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of China. - 2. 317. C.R. Academy of Science Paris: 1255–1261. - E. Buffetaut & H. Tong - 1993.
- Pararhabdodon isonensis and Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus: a new clade of lambeosaurine hadrosaurids from Eurasia. - Cretaceous Research. - A. Prieto-Márquez & J. R. Wagner - 2009.
- The 'Unicorn' Dinosaur That Wasn't: A New Reconstruction of the Crest of Tsintaosaurus and the Early Evolution of the Lambeosaurine Crest and Rostrum. - PLOS ONE. 8 (11): e82268. - A. Prieto-Márquez & J. R. Wagner - 2013. .



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