Biology:Loncosaurus
| Loncosaurus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
| Genus: | †Loncosaurus Ameghino, 1899 |
| Species: | †L. argentinus
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Loncosaurus argentinus Ameghino, 1899
| |
| Synonyms | |
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Loncosaurus (meaning uncertain; either Araucanian "chief" or Greek "lance" "lizard"[1]) is an extinct genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina . The type (and only known) species is Loncosaurus argentinus, described by the famous Argentina paleontologist Florentino Ameghino, but is considered a dubious name. Details on this animal are often contradictory, befitting a genus that was long confused for a theropod.
Teeth attributed to cf. "Carnosaurus" may have actually belonged to Loncosaurus.[2]
History
The holotype femur and tooth were discovered by Carlos Ameghino, Florentino's brother, between 1887 and 1898.
Ameghino named this dinosaur in 1899[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] from a proximal femur (MACN-1629) and tooth found near Rio Sehuen, Santa Cruz, in the Cardiel Formation[10] (Upper Cretaceous).
Either way, he thought the remains belonged to a "megalosaurid" dinosaur, a carnivore, which Friedrich von Huene agreed with.[12] Upon further review, von Zittel assigned it to the Coeluridae,[13] recognized today as a "wastebasket taxon" for small carnivorous dinosaurs. The carnivore tooth helped this misidentification take hold.
It was ignored for decades until Ralph Molnar reassessed it.[14] He found that the tooth did not belong to the same animal as the femur and removed it from the type, and suggested that the femur belonged to a hypsilophodont or turtle. Professional opinion has not changed much since then, although based on size, it appears more likely to be an iguanodont than a hypsilophodont.[10] Reviews either put it at Ornithopoda incertae sedis[10] or Iguanodontia.[4][5] Oddly, a semipopular reference reassigned it to Genyodectes without comment,[15] a view which has not been followed since.
Paleobiology
Coria estimates the size of the Loncosaurus type individual at about 5 m (16.4 feet) long.[10] As a small to medium-sized ornithopod, it would have been an agile bipedal herbivore.[5]
References
- ↑ Dinosaur Translation Guide L
- ↑ Olshevsky, DML 1999. http://dml.cmnh.org/1999Nov/msg00507.html
- ↑ Ameghino, F. 1898. Sinopsis geológico-paleontológica. Segundo censo de la República Argentina. Folia:Buenos Aires, 1:112-255. [Spanish]
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Norman, D.B., and Weishampel, D.B. 1990. Iguanodontidae and related ornithopods. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.). The Dinosauria. University of California Press:Berkeley, 510-533. ISBN:0-520-06727-4
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Norman, D.B. 2004. Basal Iguanodontia. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.). The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press:Berkeley, 413-437. ISBN:0-520-24209-2
- ↑ George Olshevsky's Dinosaur Genera List
- ↑ Ameghino, F. 1899. Nota preliminar sobre el Loncosaurus argentinus, un representante de la familia Megalosauridae de la República Argentina. Anales de la Sociedad Cientifica Argentina 49:61-62. [Spanish]
- ↑ Coria, R.A., and Salgado, L. 1996. Loncosaurus argentinus Ameghino, 1899 (Ornithischia, Ornithopoda): a revised description with comments on its phylogenetic relationships. Ameghiniana 33(4):373-376.
- ↑ Glut, D.F. (1997). Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia. Mcfarland & Company, Inc., xi-1076. ISBN:0-89950-917-7
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Coria, R.A. 1999. Ornithopod dinosaurs from the Neuquén Group, Patagonia, Argentina: phylogeny and biostratigraphy. In Tomida, Y., Rich, T.H., and Vickers-Rich, P. (eds.) Proceedings of the Second Gondwanan Dinosaur Symposium, National Science Museum Monographs 15:47-60.
- ↑ The Paleobiology Database)
- ↑ von Huene, F. 1909. Skizze zu einer Systematik und Stammesgeschichte der Dinosaurier. Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie 1909:12-22. [German]
- ↑ von Zittel, K.A.. 1911. Grundzüge der Paläontologie (Paläozoologie). II. Abteilung. Vertebrata. Druck und Verlag von R. Oldenbourg:München, 1-598. [German]
- ↑ Molnar, R.E. 1980. Australian late Mesozoic continental tetrapods: some implications. Mémoires de la Société Géologique de France, Nouvelle Série 139:131-143.
- ↑ Lessem, D., and Glut, D.F. (1993). The Dinosaur Society Dinosaur Encyclopedia. Random House, Inc.:New York, 533 p. ISBN:0-679-41770-2
Wikidata ☰ Q871931 entry
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