Muttaburrasaurus

Skeletal reconstruction of Muttaburrasaurus in the Queensland Museum in Australia

• Australia ( Continent)

• Muttaburrasaurus langdoni

Muttaburrasaurus is a genus of ornithopod dinosaurs ( ornithopods ) from the group of Iguanodontia from the Lower Cretaceous of Australia. The only species of this genus, the type species M. langdoni, was first described in 1981 by Alan Bartholomew and Ralph Molnar.

Description

Muttaburrasaurus was about a seven -meter-long herbivore that probably both quadrupedal ( four-legged ) and bipedal ( two-legged ) continued moving. The skull shows an enlarged upwardly curved snout, which probably served for the production of sounds or display. The beak was toothless, unlike Iguanodon back teeth were not suitable for chewing. The hand had five fingers; whether a Daum sting like Iguanodon or Ouranosaurus was present, is not known because of the gaps in the fossil record.

System

Originally Muttaburrasaurus was placed in the Iguanodontidae. A revision of this group in 1990 by paleontologist David Norman and David Weishampel confirmed the affiliation of the genus to the Iguanodontia, but placed them outside the Iguanodontidae. The exact relationships (classification) of the genus are still unclear, but it could be closely related to Tenontosaurus and Zalmoxes.

Discovery and naming

Muttaburrasaurus 1963 at the Thompson River discovered in the Australian state of Queensland near Muttaburra and named after this city. The Artepitheth langdoni honors Doug Langdon, a rancher who had discovered the fossils. Lithostratigraphically the fossils come from marine sediments of the Mackunda lineup that came in the Albian to the deposition. It is believed that the carcass of the animal ( holotype QM F6140 ) was flushed into the sea before it was covered by sediments. A strongly deformed skull, known as " Dunluce Skull", was discovered in 1987 between Hughenden and Richmond. Fragments of a third skull come from Lona, also near Hughenden. In addition to these findings, some teeth are known, which have been found in the south of Lightning Ridge in northwestern New South Wales. After Minmi it is the most complete dinosaur from Australia.

Swell

• Muttaburrasaurus at Dino Data (in English)
• Muttaburrasaurus (in English)

Further Reading

• A. Bartholomew and R. E. Molnar. 1981 " Muttaburrasaurus, a new iguanodontid ( Ornithischia: ornithopods ) dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland ". . Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 20 (2) :319-349