A new basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of South Korea

Authors: Huh, Min; Lee, Dae-Gil; Kim, Jung-Kyun; Lim, Jong-Deock; Godefroit, Pascal

Source: Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen, Volume 259, Number 1, January 2011 , pp. 1-24(24)

Publisher: E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung

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Abstract:

The Seonso Conglomerate (?Santonian - Campanian, Late Cretacous) of Boseong site 5 (southern coast of Korean Peninsula) has yielded well-preserved postcranial material belonging to a new taxon of ornithischian dinosaur, Koreanosaurus boseongensis nov. gen., nov. sp. This dinosaur is characterized by elongated neck vertebrae, very long and massive scapulocoracoid and humerus, proportionally short hindlimbs with a low hindlimb ratio for tibia/femur, and anteroposteriorly-elongated femoral head forming an obtuse 135° angle with the femoral shaft. Koreano saurus displays a series of neornithischian synapomorphies. Amongst Neornithischia, most features of the postcranial skeleton suggest affinities with basal ornithopods and, amongst them, particularly with a small clade formed by three genera from the Cretaceous of Montana: Zephyro saurus schaffi, Orodromeus makelai, and Oryctodromeus cubicularis. According to the morpho logical, phylogenetic, sedimentological, and taphonomic data at hand, it is tentatively postulated that Koreanosaurus was a burrowing dinosaur, like Oryctodromeus.

Keywords: BOSEONG; KOREA; LATE CRETACEOUS; KOREANOSAURUS BOSEONGENSIS NOV. GEN; NOV. SP; DINOSAURS; BASAL ORNITHOPODS

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/0077-7749/2010/0102

Publication date: 2011-01-01

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