Arenysaurus

Arenysaurus
Temporal range: Maastrichtian
~66 Ma
Skull fossils
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Neornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Family: Hadrosauridae
Subfamily: Lambeosaurinae
Tribe: Arenysaurini
Genus: Arenysaurus
Pereda-Suberbiola et al., 2009
Type species
Arenysaurus ardevoli
Pereda-Suberbiola et al., 2009

Arenysaurus is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (66 million years ago), being one of the last non-avian dinosaurs and it went extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. It is known from a partial skull and skeleton found in the late Maastrichtian-age Tremp Formation of the Pyrenees Mountains in Spain. The type species is A. ardevoli, described in 2009 by Pereda-Suberbiola et al., a group of researchers from Spain. The genus name refers to Arén, where it was found, and the specific epithet honours geologist Lluís Ardèvol.[1]

Arenysaurus was a lambeosaurine, a member of the hadrosaurid subfamily with hollow and decorative cranial crests.[1] It is one of the most complete and best dated ever found in the Late Cretaceous period.[2]

  1. ^ a b Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier; José Ignacio Canudo; Penélope Cruzado-Caballero; José Luis Barco; Nieves López-Martínez; Oriol Oms; José Ignacio Ruiz-Omeñaca (2009). "The last hadrosaurid dinosaurs of Europe: A new lambeosaurine from the Uppermost Cretaceous of Aren (Huesca, Spain)" (PDF). Comptes Rendus Palevol. 8 (6): 559–572. Bibcode:2009CRPal...8..559P. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2009.05.002.
  2. ^ Viegas, Jennifer. "THE LAST DINOSAURS: INTERVIEW WITH DINOSAUR EXPERT JOSE IGNACIO-CANUDO". Discovery News. Archived from the original on 23 January 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2012.