Abstract
BackgroundThe origin of hadrosaurid dinosaurs is far from clear, mainly due to the paucity of their early Late Cretaceous close relatives. Compared to numerous Early Cretaceous basal hadrosauroids, which are mainly from Eastern Asia, only six early Late Cretaceous (pre-Campanian) basal hadrosauroids have been found: three from Asia and three from North America.Methodology/Principal FindingsHere we describe a new hadrosauroid dinosaur, Yunganglong datongensis gen. et sp. nov., from the early Late Cretaceous Zhumapu Formation of Shanxi Province in northern China. The new taxon is represented by an associated but disarticulated partial adult skeleton including the caudodorsal part of the skull. Cladistic analysis and comparative studies show that Yunganglong represents one of the most basal Late Cretaceous hadrosauroids and is diagnosed by a unique combination of features in its skull and femur.Conclusions/SignificanceThe discovery of Yunganglong adds another record of basal Hadrosauroidea in the early Late Cretaceous, and helps to elucidate the origin and evolution of Hadrosauridae.
Highlights
Hadrosauroids were facultative bipedal dinosaurs that dominated Cretaceous Laurasian megaherbivorous niches [1,2]
During the Late Cretaceous, they gave rise to hadrosaurid dinosaurs, which are characterized by duck-like bills and complex grinding dentitions that rival those of horses and bovids [3]
Basal hadrosauroids are mainly known from the Early Cretaceous of Eastern Asia, and especially northern China [4]
Summary
Hadrosauroids were facultative bipedal dinosaurs that dominated Cretaceous Laurasian megaherbivorous niches [1,2]. The origin of hadrosaurids is far from clear, mainly due to the paucity of early Late Cretaceous close relatives. Basal hadrosauroids are mainly known from the Early Cretaceous of Eastern Asia, and especially northern China [4]. Only six pre-Campanian Late Cretaceous basal hadrosauroids have been reported: three from Asia (Shuangmiaosaurus gilmorei, Levnesovia transoxiana, and Nanyangosaurus zhugeii, see discussion section below on its age) and three from North America (Eolambia caroljonesa, Protohadros byrdi, and Jeyawati rugoculus) [5,6,7,8,9,10]. The origin of hadrosaurid dinosaurs is far from clear, mainly due to the paucity of their early Late Cretaceous close relatives. Compared to numerous Early Cretaceous basal hadrosauroids, which are mainly from Eastern Asia, only six early Late Cretaceous (pre-Campanian) basal hadrosauroids have been found: three from Asia and three from North America
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