Corythosaurus

Corythosaurus (kəˌrɪθəˈsɔːrəs; helmeted lizard) is a genus of hadrosaurid "duck-billed" dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period, about 77–75.7 million years ago, in what is now western North America. Its name is derived from the Greek word κόρυς, meaning "helmet", named and described in 1914 by Barnum Brown. Corythosaurus is now thought to be a lambeosaurine, thus related to Lambeosaurus, Nipponosaurus, Velafrons, Hypacrosaurus, and Olorotitan. Corythosaurus has an estimated length of and has a skull, including the crest, that is tall. Corythosaurus is known from many complete specimens, including the nearly complete holotype found by Brown in 1911. The holotype skeleton is only missing the last section of the tail and part of the front legs, but was preserved with impressions of polygonal scales. Corythosaurus is known from many skulls with tall crests that resemble those of the cassowary and a Corinthian helmet. The most likely function of the crest is thought to be vocalization. As in a trombone, sound waves would travel through many chambers in the crest and then get amplified when Corythosaurus exhaled. One Corythosaurus specimen has even been preserved with its last meal in its chest cavity. Inside the cavity were remains of conifer needles, seeds, twigs, and fruits, suggesting that Corythosaurus probably fed on all of these. The two species of Corythosaurus are both present in slightly different levels of the Dinosaur Park Formation. Both still co-existed with theropods and other ornithischians, like Daspletosaurus, Brachylophosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Scolosaurus, and Chasmosaurus. The first specimen, AMNH 5240, was discovered in 1911 by Barnum Brown in Red Deer River of Alberta and secured by him in the Fall of 1912. As well as an almost complete skeleton, the find was notable because impressions of much of the creature's skin had also survived. The specimen came from the Belly River Group of the province. The left or underside of the skeleton was preserved in carbonaceous clay, making it difficult to expose the skin to the elements.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related concepts (17)

Parasaurolophus

Parasaurolophus (ˌpærəsɔːˈrɒləfəs,_-ˌsɔːrəˈloʊfəs; meaning "near crested lizard" in reference to Saurolophus) is a genus of hadrosaurid "duck-billed" dinosaur that lived in what is now western North America and possibly Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about 76.5–73 million years ago. It was a herbivore that could move as both as a biped and as a quadruped. Three species are universally recognized: P. walkeri (the type species), P. tubicen, and the short-crested P. cyrtocristatus. Additionally, a fourth species, P.

Hypacrosaurus

Hypacrosaurus (meaning "near the highest lizard" [Greek υπο-, hypo- = less + ακρος, akros, high], because it was almost but not quite as large as Tyrannosaurus) was a genus of duckbill dinosaur similar in appearance to Corythosaurus. Like Corythosaurus, it had a tall, hollow rounded crest, although not as large and straight. It is known from the remains of two species that spanned 75 to 67 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada, and Montana, United States, and is the latest hollow-crested duckbill known from good remains in North America.

Timeline of hadrosaur research

This timeline of hadrosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the hadrosauroids, a group of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaurs popularly known as the duck-billed dinosaurs. Scientific research on hadrosaurs began in the , when Joseph Leidy described the genera Thespesius and Trachodon based on scrappy fossils discovered in the western United States. Just two years later he published a description of the much better-preserved remains of an animal from New Jersey that he named Hadrosaurus.