Barsboldia

 Barsboldia (meaning "of Barsbold", a well-known Mongolian paleontologist) was a genusof large hadrosaurid dinosaur from the early Maastrichtian Nemegt Formation of Ömnogöv', Mongolia. It is known from a partial vertebral column, partial pelvis, and some ribs.

Barsboldia Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 70 Ma  PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Sacrum of the holotype
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Clade:	†Ornithopoda
Family:	†Hadrosauridae
Subfamily:	†Saurolophinae
Genus:	†Barsboldia Maryańska & Osmólska, 1981
Type species
†Barsboldia sicinskii Maryańska & Osmólska, 1981

DescriptionEdit

Restoration

Teresa Maryańska and Halszka Osmólskabased this genus on holotype ZPAL MgD-1/110, a partial skeleton consisting of nine back vertebrae, nine hip vertebrae, fifteen tail vertebrae, a left ilium, parts of the left and right pubis, several ribs, and a few fragments of the hind limbs, with the backbone largely articulated. The most distinctive features of this skeleton are found in the neural spines. These are very tall, particularly over the hips, and were described as second only to those of Hypacrosaurus altispinus and the tips of those found in the first few vertebrae of the tail are club-shaped^[1] (possibly a sign of old age).^[2] In 2010 Gregory S. Paul gave a length of 10 meters (33 ft) and a weight of 5 tonnes (5.5 short tons).^[3]

PhylogenyEdit

Maryańska and Osmólska described their new genus as a lambeosaurine (or hollow-crested duckbill), the first from the Nemegt Formation, although it lacked a skull. However, the sacrum has a keel along the bottom, a possible lambeosaurine feature,^[4]and the bones closely resemble those of Hypacrosaurus.^[2][5] With only one partial skeleton known, and no skull, the genus has been considered dubious^[4] or a possible lambeosaurine of uncertain placement.^[6] A newer study published in 2011 suggests that Barsboldia is actually a valid saurolophine.^[7]

The following cladogram was recovered in the 2011 phylogenetic analysis of Hadrosauroideaby Prieto-Márquez (the relationships within Lambeosaurinae and between basal hadrosauroids aren't shown).^[7]

Caudal vertebrae

Vertebrae

Telmatosaurus       Lophorhothon    Hadrosauridae    Hadrosaurus    Saurolophidae    Lambeosaurinae    Saurolophinae      Maiasaura     Brachylophosaurus         Barsboldia       Shantungosaurus         Edmontosaurus annectens     Edmontosaurus regalis           Unnamed Sabinas species       Kerberosaurus       Prosaurolophus       Saurolophus osborni     Saurolophus angustirostris               Wulagasaurus       Kritosaurus         Gryposaurus latidens       Gryposaurus notabilis     Gryposaurus monumentensis           Unnamed Big Bend species       Secernosaurus     Willinakaqe(=Salitral Moreno species)

PaleobiologyEdit

As a hadrosaurid, Barsboldia would have been a bipedal/quadrupedal herbivore, eating plants with a sophisticated skull that permitted a grinding motion analogous to chewing, and was furnished with hundreds of continually-replaced teeth. If it was a lambeosaurine, it would have had a hollow crest formed out of expanded skull bones containing the nasal passages, with a function relating to identification by sight and sound.^[6]

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article  Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.