Ahshislesaurus
Named for the Ah-shi-sle-pah Wilderness in New Mexico, a phonetic transliteration of the Navajo áshįįh łibá meaning 'salt, it is gray', combined with Ancient Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'. The species name honors Swedish paleontologist Carl Wiman.
Ahshislesaurus is an extinct genus of saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous of what is now New Mexico, United States. It is known from a partial skull and three neck vertebrae discovered in 1916 and first described in 1935. Prior to its scientific naming, researchers debated whether the specimen belonged to Kritosaurus navajovius, a related species from the same layers of rocks, or a distinct animal. The genus contains a single species, Ahshislesaurus wimani, named in 2025. A partial skeleton and isolated limb and girdle bones found in the same rock layers may also belong to Ahshislesaurus.
Diagnosis
- Quadrate robust and anteroposteriorly wide throughout its length
- Dorsal end of quadrate bent posteriorly so that quadrate head is situated posterodorsally
- Quadratojugal flange of jugal elongated with nearly uniform anteroposterior width throughout its length
- Posterior process of jugal distinctively convex and broad, not forming a tapering structure as in most other hadrosaurids
- Dentary with dorsoventrally deep anterior end, whereas in most other hadrosaurids the anterior end is dorsoventrally narrow
Species
Ahshislesaurus wimani Dalman et al., 2025
Type species
Named for Swedish paleontologist Carl Wiman, who researched vertebrate fossils from New Mexico's San Juan Basin.
- Holotype
- USNM VP-8629 , National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
- Material
- Incomplete skull with posterior skull roof (prefrontals, frontals, postorbitals, squamosals, quadrates, parietal, braincase), right jugal, left dentary, right surangular, axis, third and fourth cervical vertebrae
- Horizon
- lower Hunter Wash Member, Kirtland Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
- Locality
- Ah-shi-sle-pah Wilderness, New Mexico, United States
References
- Dalman, S. G.; Jasinski, S. E.; Malinzak, D. E.; Lucas, S. G.; Kundrát, M.; Fiorillo, A. R. (2025). A new saurolophine hadrosaurid (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Hunter Wash Member, Kirtland Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico. Fossil Record 11 101: 73-114. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. dalman2025a