Tsintaosaurus

Sin-dow-sore-us.
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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

Tsintaosaurus ‭(‬Qingdao lizard‭)‬.

Phonetic

Sin-dow-sore-us.

Named By

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Ornithopoda,‭ ‬Hadrosauridae,‭ ‬Lambeosaurinae.

Diet

Herbivore.

Species

T.‭ ‬spinorhinus‭

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.

In Depth

       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-M�rquez & 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-M�rquez & 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-M�rquez & J. R. Wagner – 2013. .

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