Velafrons
From Latin vela meaning 'sail' and frons meaning 'forehead' or 'brow'; translates as 'sailed forehead,' referring to its bony crest
Late Cretaceous stages
Velafrons is a genus of lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mexico. It is known from a mostly complete skull and partial skeleton of a juvenile individual, with a bony crest on the forehead. Its fossils were found in the late Campanian-aged Cerro del Pueblo Formation (about 73.5 million years ago), near Rincon Colorado, Coahuila. The type specimen is CPC-59, and the type species is V. coahuilensis.
Diagnosis
- Quadrate with narrow quadratojugal notch
- Postorbital with dorsally positioned, high arching squamosal process
- Ceratobranchial with rounded anterior end
- Flat fan-like crest created by nasals and premaxillae
- Jugal with poorly developed posteroventral flange positioned more posteriorly, with anteriorly recurved posterior process
- Well-developed raised squamosal shelf
Species
Velafrons coahuilensis Gates et al., 2007
Type species
Named for Coahuila, the Mexican state where the fossils were found, with the suffix '-ensis' meaning 'from'.
- Holotype
- CPC-59 , Colección Paleontológica de Coahuila, Museo del Desierto (MUDE)
- Material
- Partial subadult skull with left and right premaxillae and maxillae, right jugal, nasal, quadrate, mostly complete skull roof, dentary, and partial postcrania.
- Horizon
- Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
- Locality
- 7A Quarry, Cerro de los Dinosaurios, Coahuila, Mexico
References
- Gates, T. A.; Sampson, S. D.; De Jesús, C. R. D.; Zanno, L. E.; Eberth, D.; Hernández-Rivera, R.; Martínez, M. C. A.; Kirkland, J. I. (2007). Velafrons coahuilensis, a new lambeosaurine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the late Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Coahuila, Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(4): 917-930. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[917:vcanlh]2.0.co;2 gates2007a