| Wulagasaurus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Right dentary | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
| Family: | †Hadrosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Saurolophinae |
| Genus: | †Wulagasaurus Godefroitet al., 2008 |
| Species: | †W. dongi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Wulagasaurus dongi Godefroitet al., 2008 | |
Wulagasaurus (meaning "Wulaga lizard", in reference to the discovery locality) is agenus ofsaurolophinehadrosauriddinosaur from theLate Cretaceous ofHeilongjiang,China.
Its remains were found in abonebed in the middleMaastrichtian-ageYuliangze Formation, dated to 69 million years ago.[1][2][3] This bonebed is otherwise dominated by fossils of thelambeosaurine hadrosaurid (hollow-crested duckbill)Sahaliyania.Wulagasaurus was named byPascal Godefroit and colleagues in 2008. Only partial remains are known at this time. It is one of several hadrosaurids from theAmur River region named since 2000. Thetype and only species to date isW. dongi, named in honor of Chinese paleontologistDong Zhiming.[4]
Wulagasaurus isbased onGMH W184, a partialdentary (toothbearing bone of the lower jaw). Godefroit and colleagues assigned additional remains from the bonebed to their new genus, including threebraincases, acheekbone, twomaxillae (the toothbearing bone of the upper jaw), another dentary, twoshoulder blades, twosternal elements, twoupper arm bones, and anischium. It can bedistinguished from other hadrosaurids by its slender dentary and the unique form of its upper arm, which had distinctive articulations and placements for muscle attachments. Godefroit and colleagues performed aphylogenetic analysis that suggestsWulagasaurus was the mostbasal saurolophine known (which would result in a long ghost lineage[5]), and interpreted this as evidence that saurolophines and hadrosaurids in general originated in Asia, which has been supported by other finds since.[4]
In 2010Gregory S. Paul estimated its size at 9 meters (30 ft) and 3 tonnes (3.3 short tons).[6] As a hadrosaurid,Wulagasaurus would have been anherbivore.[7]
In a 2012 conducted by researchers from theInstitute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), along with others fromChinese Academy of Science,American Museum of Natural History, andGeological Museum of Heilongjiang Provinces, re-evaluated and re-describedWulagasaurus dongi.[3] Based on both original and assigned specimens, they concluded thatWulagasaurus shared many morphological similarities with North American taxon'sBrachylophosaurus andMaiasaura, possibly forming a clade-structure within the already existing cladeBrachylophosaurini.[3] This hypothesis has been demonstrated by another phylogenetic 2014 analysis.[8]
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