Open Paleo

Olorotitan

Godefroit et al., 2003 o-LO-ro-TIE-tuhn

From Latin olor ('swan'), referencing the swan-like elongated neck and crest of this hadrosaur, combined with Greek Titan (a giant); meaning 'giant swan'

72.2–66.0 million years ago Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Olorotitan is a monotypic genus of lambeosaurine duck-billed dinosaur, containing a single species, O. arharensis. It was among the last non-avian dinosaurs to go extinct during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, having lived from the middle to late Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period. The remains were found in the Udurchukan Formation beds of Kundur, Arkharinsky District, Amur Oblast, Eastern Russia, in the vicinity of the Amur River.

Diagnosis

  1. Helmet-shaped hollow crest with lateral premaxillary process extending caudally well beyond occiput
  2. Postorbital process of jugal extremely high (ratio height/length = 0.9)
  3. Neck remarkably elongated with 18 cervical vertebrae (maximum 15 previously reported in hadrosaurids)
  4. Sacrum very elongated with 15-16 vertebrae (vs. typical 10-12 in adult hadrosaurids)
  5. Scapula more elongated than other hadrosaurids with length/width ratio of 6.2
  6. Additional articulation between adjacent neural spines on proximal third of tail (knob-cup articulation)

Species

Olorotitan arharensis Godefroit et al., 2003

Type species

Named for Arhara County in Russia, where the fossil was found.

Holotype
AEHM 2/845 , Amur Natural History Museum of the Institute of Geology and Nature Management, Russian Academy of Sciences
Material
Nearly complete skeleton with supracranial crest, complete neck of 18 cervical vertebrae, sacrum of 15-16 vertebrae, and tail of more than 70 vertebrae
Horizon
Udurchukan Formation, Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 72.2–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Kundur, Amur, Russia

References

  1. Godefroit, P.; Bolotsky, Y.; Alifanov, V. (2003). A remarkable hollow-crested hadrosaur from Russia: an Asian origin for lambeosaurines. Comptes Rendus Palevol 2(2): 143-151. Museum National D'Histoire Naturelle. doi:10.1016/s1631-0683(03)00017-4 godefroit2003a
  2. Van Itterbeeck, J.; Bolotsky, Y.; Bultynck, P.; Godefroit, P. (2005). Stratigraphy, sedimentology and palaeoecology of the dinosaur-bearing Kundur section (Zeya-Bureya Basin, Amur Region, Far Eastern Russia). Geological Magazine 142(6): 735-750. doi:10.1017/S0016756805001226

    Stratigraphy of the Kundur section; places the Olorotitan skeleton in the Udurchukan Formation, 3.25 m below the contact with the Bureya Formation.

    vanitterbeeck2005a
  3. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the appearance features.

    paul2024a
  4. Godefroit, P.; Lauters, P.; Van Itterbeeck, J.; Bolotsky, Yu. L.; Dong, Z.; Jin, L.; Wu, W.; Bolotsky, I. Y.; Hai, S.; Yu, T. (2011). Recent advances on study of hadrosaurid dinosaurs in Heilongjiang (Amur) River area between China and Russia. Global Geology 14(3): 160-191. doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-9736.2011.03.03

    Heads the Kundur locality "Kundur (N49°04'57.5″/E130°51'34.1″)", in the same form as its Blagoveschensk and Wulaga headings, whose pairs other papers print for those dinosaur sites.

    godefroit2011a