Mantellisaurus

Man-tel-le-sore-us.
Published on

Benjamin Gutierrez

Vertebrate Paleontologist

Benjamin Gutierrez is a leading expert on dinosaurs, particularly the mighty theropods. His fieldwork in South America has uncovered new species and provided insights into dinosaur social structures.

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Name

Mantellisaurus ‭(‬Mantell’s liazrd‭)‬.

Phonetic

Man-tel-le-sore-us.

Named By

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Ornithopoda,‭ ‬Styracosterna,‭ ‬Hadrosauriformes.

Diet

Herbivore.

Species

M.‭ ‬atherfieldensis‭

Size

About‭ ‬7‭ ‬meters long.

Known locations

England,‭ ‬Isle of Wight‭ ‬-‭ ‬Wessex Formation.

Time Period

Barremian-Aptian of the Cretaceous.

Fossil representation

Several individuals,‭ ‬some of which are almost complete.

In Depth

       Mantellisaurus was originally described as a species of Iguanodon,‭ ‬I.‭ ‬atherfieldensis,‭ ‬but in‭ ‬2007‭ ‬Gregory S.‭ ‬Paul renamed the species as new genus.‭ ‬Paul chose the name Mantellisaurus in honour of Gideon Mantell,‭ ‬the man who discovered and named Iguanodon.‭ ‬Mantellisaurus was capable of movement in either a quadrupedal or bipedal posture,‭ ‬and is noted for having a similarity with the dinosaur Ouranosaurus from North Africa.‭ ‬Trackways from the same location that the Mantellisaurus holotype fossils are known from indicate that Mantellisaurus travelled in family groups.

Further Reading

-‭ ‬Turning the old into the new:‭ ‬a separate genus for the gracile iguanodont from the Wealden of England.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Horns and Beaks:‭ ‬Ceratopsian and Ornithopod Dinosaurs‭ ‬69-77.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Gregory S.‭ ‬Paul‭ ‬-‭ ‬2007. -‭ ‬A revised taxonomy of the iguanodont dinosaur genera and species.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Cretaceous Research‭ ‬29‭ (‬2‭)‬:‭ ‬192‭–‬216.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Gregory S.‭ ‬Paul‭ ‬-‭ ‬2008.

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