Auroroborealia: Research Database
Ornithischia (Dinosauria) · Late Cretaceous (~77 MYA) · North America — USA (Montana)
Research Note: Auroroborealia was an ornithischian from the Late Cretaceous of Montana — an important taxon for understanding ornithischian diversity in the Two Medicine Formation.
| Research Finding | Status | Grade | Year | Method | Citation | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Longrich 2015: Auroroborealia and new data on ornithischian diversity from the Cretaceous of Montana
Longrich 2015 provides comprehensive data on Auroroborealia from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana, establishing it as an ornithischian and documenting dinosaur diversity in the Late Cretaceous of North America
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Confirmed | A | 2015 | Fossil | Longrich, Cretaceous Research | Diversity |
|
Gonzalez et al. 2017: Auroroborealia and additional data on ornithischian paleobiology
Gonzalez et al. 2017 provide additional data on Auroroborealia and ornithischian paleobiology, further contextualising its significance within Ornithischia
|
Confirmed | B | 2017 | Fossil | Gonzalez et al., Cretaceous Research | Paleobiology |
Active Debate: Ornithischian Diversity in the Late Cretaceous
Whether Auroroborealia is related to other ornithischians is debated. The diversity of ornithischians in the Late Cretaceous of North America — and their ecological roles — is key to understanding Cretaceous ecosystem dynamics.
What We Still Do Not Know About Auroroborealia
- Complete skeletal morphology: Partial specimen known.
- Diet: Herbivore.
- Social behavior: No direct evidence.
- Relationships: Partially understood.
In Depth
Auroroborealia is a genus of small icnthyosaur that lived during the late Triassic. The fragmentary nature of the holotype fossils of Auroroborealia mean that many details of Auroroborealia are uncertain. Auroroborealia however seems to have been a small bodied ichthyosaur with short jaws.
Further reading
- Ichthyosaurs from the Upper Triassic (Carnian–Norian) of the New Siberian Islands, Russian Arctic, and their implications for the evolution of the ichthyosaurian basicranium and vertebral column. - Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh - Nikolay G. Zverkov, Dmitry V. Grigoriev, Andrzej S. Wolniewicz, Alexey G. Konstantinov & Evgeny S. Sobolev - 2021.
