Amurosaurus

Name: Amurosaurus ‭(‬Amur lizard‭ ‬-‭ ‬after the Amur River‭)‬.
Phonetic: A-mur-o-sore-us.
Named By: Yuri Bolotsky and Sergei Kurzanov‭ ‬-‭ ‬1991.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Ornithopoda,‭ ‬Lambeosaurinae,‭ ‬Hadrosauridae.
Species: A.‭ ‬riabinini‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: At least 6 meters long, maybe more.
Known locations: Russia‭ ‬-‭ ‬Udurchukan Formation.
Time period: Late Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Remains of many individuals though these are mostly preserved in a bone bed of remains.



       Amurosaurus has been based only upon very partial remains,‭ ‬though these were taken from a bonebed of multiple dinosaurs,‭ ‬and further remains are likely to be in there somewhere.‭ ‬Slowly the picture of a‭ ‬lambeosaurine hadrosaurid‭ (‬the kind with a hollow crest) has been pieced together with an appearance similar to that of the earlier Corythosaurus from North America.‭ ‬One of the most interesting things about Amurosaurus is that once again we can see a lambeosaurine hadrosaurid living in Asia near the end of the Cretaceous at a time when they seem to have largely vanished from North America‭ (‬instead solid to no‭ ‬crested saurolophine hadrosaurid were predominant here‭)‬.‭ ‬This might actually correspond with one theory where the lambeosaurines are surmised to have evolved in Asia and then crossed over to North America via a land bridge.
       The bone bed where fossils of Amurosaurus were found also has the remains of another hadrosaurid called Kerberosaurus alongside them.‭ ‬Many of these bones also bear the tooth marks of various theropod dinosaurs,‭ ‬though at this stage it is only evidence of feeding.‭ ‬They do not yet reveal if the dinosaurs had been killed or just scavenged by meat eaters.‭ ‬Another hadrosaurid discovered near the Amur River,‭ ‬though this time on the Chinese side is Charonosaurus.‭ ‬Predators of Amurosaurus may have included Asian genera of tyrannosaurs such as Tarbosaurus.

Further reading
-‭ [‬The hadrosaurs of the Amur Region.‭]‬,‭ ‬Y.‭ ‬L.‭ ‬Bolotsky‭ & ‬S.‭ ‬K.‭ ‬Kurzanov‭ ‬-‭ ‬1991.

-‭ ‬The lambeosaurine dinosaur Amurosaurus riabinini,‭ ‬from the Maastrichtian of Far Eastern Russia,‭ ‬P.‭ ‬Godefroit,‭ ‬Y.‭ ‬L.‭ ‬Bolotsky‭ & ‬J.‭ ‬Van Itterbeeck‭ ‬-‭ ‬2004.

-‭ ‬Recent advances on study of hadrosaurid dinosaurs in Heilongjiang‭ (‬Amur‭) ‬River area between China and Russia,‭ ‬P.‭ ‬Godefroit,‭ ‬P.‭ ‬Lauters,‭ ‬J.‭ ‬Van Itterbeeck,‭ ‬Y.‭ ‬Bolotsky‭ & ‬I.‭ ‬Y.‭ ‬Bolotsky‭ ‬-‭ ‬2011.



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