Name:
Kundurosaurus
(Kundur lizard).
Phonetic: Kun-du-ro-sore-us.
Named By: Pascal Godefroit, Yuri L. Bolotsky
& Pascaline Lauters - 2012.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Ornithopoda, Iguanodontia, Hadrosuroidea,
Hadrodsauridae, Saurolophinae.
Species: K. nagornyi (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain due to incomplete remains.
Known locations: Russia, Amur Region.
Time period: Late Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Incomplete skull and mandible
as well as partial remains of the post cranial skeleton.
Kundurosaurus
is one of many hadrosaurid
genera from the Amur Region of Russia which
defines the Russian border with China along the Amur River.
Additionally some genera of hadrosaurid have been identified from the
Chinese side of the border of this region as well. Like with many of
these, Kundurosaurus lived during the late
Maastrichtian, and as a
genus may have been around when an asteroid slammed into what is now
the Gulf of Mexico, signalling the death knell for the dinosaurs and
the end of the Mesozoic age. Unfortunately not much has been
recovered for this genus so far, though it has been identified as a
saurolophine hadrosaurid, the type with solid crests, often reduced
in size.
Other
hadrosaurids associated with the Amur region include Amurosaurus,
Wulagasaurus,
Sahaliyania
and Kerberosaurus,
though it is quite
possible that the number of known genera for this region will increase.
Further reading
- A New Saurolophine Dinosaur from the Latest Cretaceous of Far Eastern
Russia, Pascal Godefroit, Yuri L. Bolotsky & Pascaline
Lauters - 2012.