Open Paleo

Laiyangosaurus

Zhang et al., 2019 lie-YON-go-SOR-us

Named for Laiyang, a city in Shandong Province, China where it was found, combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard', hence 'Laiyang lizard'.

83.6–72.2 million years ago Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Laiyangosaurus is a genus of saurolophine hadrosaurid from the Late Cretaceous Jingangkou Formation of China. It is known from one species, L. youngi, found in the Laiyang Basin within the province of Shandong.

Diagnosis

  1. Prominent and narrow ridge on lateral side of nasal forming posterodorsal and posterior margin of circumnasal depression
  2. Primary ridge in maxillary teeth slightly deflected posteriorly
  3. Retroarticular process of surangular dorsolateroposteriorly recurved
  4. Orbital margin wider than infratemporal margin of jugal
  5. Dorsal margin of nasal is flat
  6. Absence of supracranial crest
  7. Relatively shallow and rostrodorsally directed caudal margin of lacrimal process of jugal
  8. One or more foramina present on rostral surface of premaxilla

Species

Laiyangosaurus youngi Zhang et al., 2019

Type species

Named for Yang Zhongjian (C.C. Young), the pioneering Chinese vertebrate paleontologist.

Holotype
IVPP V23401 , Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
Material
Large left maxilla, right squamosal, and left dentary.
Horizon
Hongtuya Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
Locality 2, Jingangkou, Laiyang, Shandong, China The provincial lithostratigraphy (Zhang and Liu, 1996) places the hadrosaur sites at Jingangkou in the Hongtuya Formation; its Jingangkou Formation is the lake beds above. Zhang and colleagues (2019), describing the holotype, give the horizon as the Jingangkou Formation in the sense of Hu and colleagues (2001).

References

  1. Zhang, J.; Wang, X.; Wang, Q.; Jiang, S.; Cheng, X.; Li, N.; Qiu, R. (2019). A new saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong, China. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 91(suppl 2). FapUNIFESP (SciELO). doi:10.1590/0001-3765201720160920 zhang2019a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate.

    jones2026a
  3. Zhang, Z. Q.; Liu, M. W. (eds.) (1996). 山东省岩石地层 [Stratigraphy (Lithostratigraphic) of Shandong Province]. 全国地层多重划分对比研究 [Multiple Classification and Correlation of the Stratigraphy of China] 37. China University of Geosciences Press, Wuhan.

    Compiled by the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources of Shandong Province; the book names Zhang Zengqi and Liu Mingwei as its compilers (p. 7).

    zhang1996a
  4. Hu, C. Z.; Cheng, Z. W.; Pang, Q. Q.; Fang, X. S. (2001). Shantungosaurus giganteus. 1-116. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.

    Cited from the reference list of Zhang and colleagues (2019).

    hu2001a