Velafrons
Artistic reconstruction of live Velafrons
- Mexico ( Cerro del Pueblo Formation)
- Velafrons coahuilensis
Velafrons is an extinct genus of Lambeosaurinae from the group of hadrosaurs. The so far only find dates from the Cerro del Pueblo Formation near the town of Rincon Colorado in Coahuila (Mexico) and is dated to the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian ). Velafrons was founded in 2007 by Terry A. Gates et al. first described scientifically. The Fund ( holotype, specimen number CPC -59 ) consists of a fragmentary skull and remains of Postkraniums. The only way is Velafrons coahuilensis.
The name Velafrons (sp. vela - "Sailing ", Latin frons - " forehead " ) means something like " forehead with sails" and has the sail-like head crest. The second part of the species name, coahuilensis, has Coahuila, the Mexican state of origin of the Fund.
Features
In the copy found there were believed to be a juvenile, after which the disproportionately large skull and not yet fused sutures refer to the vertebrae. Like other representatives of Lambeosaurinae wore Velafrons a hollow head crest. This crest was similar to that of Corythosaurus and Hypacrosaurus more than that of Lambeosaurus and was flat and fan-shaped, but this probably is not the final comb shape adult animals. Despite these ontogenetic differences between pups and adult animals, several unique features ( autapomorphies ) were identizifieren that are supposedly not ontogenetically related and can be used for the delineation of the genus; for example, showed the square leg a distinctive bulge.
System
Velafrons is a representative of Lambeosaurinae. The exact relationships are unclear. A study by Prieto - Márquez and colleagues (2010 ) provides Velafrons as a derived genus of this subfamily and with Olorotitan and Nipponosaurus related. Below is a cladogram by Prieto - Márquez (2010):
Pararhabdodon
Sahaliyania
" Hypacrosaurus " stebingeri
Corythosaurus
Lambeosaurus
Hypacrosaurus
Nipponosaurus
" Lambeosaurus " laticaudus
Velafrons
Olorotitan