Corythosaurus

Corythosaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Campanian), 77–75.7 Ma
Skeleton in Carnegie Museum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Neornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Family: Hadrosauridae
Subfamily: Lambeosaurinae
Tribe: Lambeosaurini
Genus: Corythosaurus
Brown, 1914
Type species
Corythosaurus casuarius
Brown, 1914
Species
Synonyms
List
  • Corythosaurus excavatus
    Gilmore, 1923
  • Stephanosaurus intermedius
    Parks, 1923
  • Procheneosaurus erectofrons
    (Parks, 1931 [originally Tetragonosaurus])
  • Tetragonosaurus erectofrons
    Parks, 1931
  • Corythosaurus bicristatus
    Parks, 1935
  • Corythosaurus brevicristatus
    Parks, 1935

Corythosaurus (/kəˌrɪθəˈsɔːrəs/;[1] lit.'helmeted lizard') is a genus of hadrosaurid "duck-billed" dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period, about 77–75.7 million years ago, in what is now western North America. Its name is derived from the Greek word κόρυς, meaning "helmet", named and described in 1914 by Barnum Brown. Corythosaurus is now thought to be a lambeosaurine, thus related to Lambeosaurus, Nipponosaurus, Velafrons, Hypacrosaurus, and Olorotitan. Corythosaurus has an estimated length of 7.7–9 metres (25–30 ft) and has a skull, including the crest, that is 70.8 centimetres (27.9 in; 2.32 ft) tall.

Corythosaurus is known from many complete specimens, including the nearly complete holotype found by Brown in 1911. The holotype skeleton is only missing the last section of the tail and part of the front legs, but was preserved with impressions of polygonal scales. Corythosaurus is known from many skulls with tall crests that resemble those of the cassowary and a Corinthian helmet. The most likely function of the crest is thought to be vocalization. As in a trombone, sound waves would travel through many chambers in the crest and then get amplified when Corythosaurus exhaled. One Corythosaurus specimen has even been preserved with its last meal in its chest cavity. Inside the cavity were remains of conifer needles, seeds, twigs, and fruits, suggesting that Corythosaurus probably fed on all of these.[2]

The two species of Corythosaurus are both present in slightly different levels of the Dinosaur Park Formation. Both still co-existed with theropods and other ornithischians, like Daspletosaurus, Brachylophosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Scolosaurus, and Chasmosaurus.

  1. ^ "Corythosaurus". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  2. ^ Sander, P. Martin; Gee, Carole T.; Hummel, Jürgen; Clauss, Marcus (2010). "14: Mesozoic Plants and Dinosaur Herbivory". Plants in Mesozoic Time: Morphological Innovations, Phylogeny, Ecosystems. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 341, 343. ISBN 9780253354563. Retrieved 13 October 2020.