Dinovember 2016, Day 29

'Lambeosaurines? LAMBEOSAURINES? Saurolophus
MEANS "crested reptile," sonny!'

Name: Saurolophus angustirostris
Meaning: narrow-beaked crested reptile
Time: Late Cretaceous, c 72 million years ago
Place: Mongolia
Size: 13 metres (42.7 feet) long and at least 11 tonnes (12.1 tons); some specimens may be even larger
Type of Dinosaur: saurolophin saurolophine (spike-crested flat-headed duckbill)

Saurolophus angustirostris is Asia's best-known duckbill, with many specimens known from hatchlings to gigantic adults, many coming from a site called 'the Dragon's Tomb.' There are several skin impressions known from Saurolophus angustirostris, which show raised scales along the back, and small 'basement scales' studding the skin, with occasional larger scales scattered in between. Those are the rounded scales visible on this guy. Unlike many other duckbills, like Lambeosaurus the similarly-named Parasaurolophus, Saurolophus and its nearest relatives did not have large, hollow crests. Saurolophus was named for the solid, spike-like crest on the top of its head, which did not contain nasal passages like the hollow-crested duckbills' wacky headgear did.

Dinovember 2016, Day 23

The nose knows. Or some nose pun, I guess?

Name: Altirhinus kurzanovi
Meaning: [discoverer Sergei] Kurzanov's high nose
Time: Early Cretaceous, c 120 million years ago
Place: Mongolia
Size: about 6.5 metres (21.3 feet) long
Type of Dinosaur: hadrosauroid iguanodont (near-duckbill beaked dinosaur)

Altirhinus was originally considered part of Iguanodon orientalis, a dubious species of iguanodont. More fossils revealed a rather different animal, with a bizarrely high snout. This fairly large herbivore had a rather narrow beak for selectively cropping vegetation. My restoration of it was influenced as a bit of an homage to the (unfairly) rather-forgotten 2000 Disney film Dinosaur, in which the antagonistic old Iguanodon males develop tall ridges on their snouts, clearly inspired by Altirhinus skulls. The tall, forward-slanting ridge along the back in my drawing is in reference to the quite good creature design in the film.

Dinovember 2016, Day 17

A big, arched nose and fun in the mud: Gryposaurus is my kind of dinosaur.

Name: Gryposaurus monumentensis
Meaning: [Grand Staircase-Escalante National] Monument hook-nosed reptile
Time: Late Cretaceous, c 76 million years ago
Place: Utah
Size: generally about 8-9 metres (26.2-29.5 feet) long and 3-4 tonnes (3.3-4.4 tons) or so, but larger material from Utah referred to this species suggests large individuals of at least 12 metres (39.4 feet) and probably 8-10 tonnes (8.8-11 tons)
Type of Dinosaur: kritosaurin saurolophine (Roman-nosed duckbill dinosaur)

Gryposaurus is a duckbill near and dear to my heart - we have very similar nose shapes. Additionally, while saurolophine duckbills are more often overshadowed by their hollow-crested lambeosaurine cousins, Gryposaurus had the big size and burly build to make it just as impressive as its more elaborately-adorned kin. These Gryposaurus are enjoying a mud wallow, something I believe many dinosaurs would have done just like many big animals today. The huge individual at the back represents the larger known material, while the smaller ones at the front still have a lot of growing to do; in most dinosaur communities, adolescent animals that were capable of breeding but still were far from 'full size' would have really dominated, as opposed to really big adult animals.

Dinovember 2016, Day 10

Pompadours have been popular for a very long time. 

Name: Lambeosaurus magnicristatus
Meaning: [palaeontologist Lawrence] Lambe's reptile with a great crest
Time: Late Cretaceous, c 74.8 million years ago
Place: Alberta and possibly Montana
Size: around 9 metres (29.5 feet) long
Type of Dinosaur: lambeosaurin lambeosaurine (helmeted hollow-crested duckbill dinosaur)

The lambeosaurines are duckbill dinosaurs known for their elaborate headgear. These plant-eating dinosaurs sported large, hollow crests that would have been flashy visual signals and may also have aided them in enhancing vocalisations by acting as a resonating chamber. Lambeosaurus magnicristatus has one of the biggest crests in the group, a huge, forward-angled pompadour-like structure. This species is known from fewer remains than some of its close cousins, which seem to show potential male/female dimorphism in crest shape and size; perhaps Lambeosaurus magnicristatus did too.

Dinovember 2016, Day 3

A Trinisaura stands tall to survey the winter
wonderland of Antarctica's long, cold night. 

Name: Trinisaura santamartaensis
Meaning: Trinidad's reptile from Santa Marta [after geologist Trinidad Diaz and the Santa Marta Cove site where it was discovered]
Time: Late Cretaceous, c 72 million years ago
Place: James Ross Island, Antartica
Size: about 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) long, though the known specimen is a subadult
Type of Dinosaur: elasmarian iguanodont (Patagonian-Antarctic long-legged beaked dinosaur)

Trinisaura is one of only a handful of dinosaurs known from Antarctica. While there weren't polar ice caps in the Age of Reptiles, wintertime would have been long, dark, and bitterly cold for months on end. Trinisaura may have had fuzzy feathers to insulate it among the snow and ice.

This dinosaur is part of a group of iguanodont ornithopods, advanced beaked herbivores, that is so far only known from Patagonia and Antarctica, called the elasmarians. The advanced elasmarian Talenkauen, related to Trinisaura, has a long body, long arms and legs, a long neck, and a surprisingly small skull. Since Trinisaura is only known from a partial skeleton, I used Talenkauen as a guide, though I made the neck a little shorter and head a little bigger - and being thoroughly enfluffened changes the neck's profile considerably!

The Most Wondrous Duckbill In All the West

In the in-development video game Saurian, which I wrote about recently far beyond recent memory, the world of the very-Latest Cretaceous environment preserved within the sedimentary rocks of the Hell Creek Formation is brought to life. One of the most abundant large animals in this ecosystem is a large, shovel-mouthed herbivore belonging to the group of dinosaurs known as hadrosaurs, or more commonly in the popular parlance, duckbills.

In Saurian, the Hell Creek duckbill is called Anatosaurus annectens. This not the name most people in the palaeo community use for this animal.  In just about all sources for the last few decades, the Hell Creek duckbill is called Edmontosaurus annectens. So what's up with the name Anatosaurus?

The duckiest duckbill, usually called Edmontosaurus annectens. Its scale
patterns are based on 'mummies' that preserve fossilised skin impressions.
[art by the author]