Punishment Via Hadrosaur

Fragmentary hadrosaurs are recovered all over the globe. Therefore, deciding to discuss a fragmentary hadrosaur is a difficult and rather peculiar choice a lot of the time. However, it is always possible that the next dinosaur we discuss here may become the favorite of some young paleontologist who will devote their life to finding more and and may potentially make some earth shattering discovery. I am optimistic about the future today. There really is not any specific reason, given that Aralosaurus tuberiferus ("Aral Sea lizard") is one of those fragmentary hadrosaurs. As a primitive Lambeosaurine hadrosaur Aralosaurus was actually quite advanced compared to more primitive hadrosaurs and the known skull bears this out with approximately 30 rows of teeth numbering near a total of 1,000; the total number is not known as only the singular skull has been unearthed to this point in time. Discovered in 1968 and described by Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky, the skull is composed of a portion of the neurocranium, the maxilla, and a limited amount of the nasals and other components of the snout. Not much is known about the dinosaur, but it has been "revisited" a number of times, possibly due to both its primitive characteristics and its wide and prominent nasal protuberance. We will look at these bones in greater detail tomorrow.

©Brian Franczak