Open Paleo

Magnapaulia

Prieto-Márquez et al., 2012 MAG-nuh-POR-lee-uh

From Latin 'magnus' meaning 'large' and the first name of Paul G. Haaga Jr., president of the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, honoring support of the institution.

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

Magnapaulia is a genus of herbivorous lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) El Gallo Formation of Baja California, northwestern Mexico. It contains a single species, Magnapaulia laticaudus, which was first described in 1981 as a possible species of Lambeosaurus by William J. Morris, and was given its own genus in 2012 by Prieto-Márquez and colleagues.

Diagnosis

  1. Longest haemal arches of proximal caudal vertebrae at least four times longer than the depth of their respective centra
  2. Base of prezygapophyses in caudal vertebrae merging to form a bowl-shaped surface
  3. Downturned rostroventral process of the maxilla at 18-degree angle with alveolar margin
  4. Tear-shaped external naris with length/width ratio between 1.85 and 2.85
  5. Neural spines of dorsal, sacral, and proximal caudal vertebrae at least four times the depth of their respective centra

Species

Magnapaulia laticaudus Prieto-Márquez et al., 2012

Type species

From Latin 'latus' meaning 'broad' and 'cauda' meaning 'tail', referring to the tall, laterally broad tail of this hadrosaurid.

Holotype
LACM 17715 , Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Material
Left premaxilla, left maxilla, left jugal, partial atlas, cervical to caudal vertebrae with neural arches and centra, partial sacrum, sternum, coracoid, scapula, humerus, ischium, femur, tibia, metatarsal III
Horizon
El Disecado Member, El Gallo Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
LACM locality 7253, Baja California, Mexico

Notable specimens

  • LACM 17712

    Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County largest individual

    Largest known specimen of Magnapaulia and the largest known lambeosaurine, with a humerus estimated at 80.3 cm used to scale the genus to about 12.5 meters. Its tail also preserved skin impressions with large scales up to four centimeters wide surrounded by one-centimeter hexagonal scales.

    Prieto-Márquez et al. (2012)

References

  1. Prieto-Márquez, A.; Chiappe, L. M.; Joshi, S. H. (2012). The Lambeosaurine Dinosaur Magnapaulia laticaudus from the Late Cretaceous of Baja California, Northwestern Mexico. PLoS ONE 7(6): e38207. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038207 prieto-márquez2012b