Penelopognathus weishampeli, new Hadrosaur

[Jay <sappororaptor@yahoo.com>]

A new primitive hadrosauroid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of
Inner Mongolia (P.R. China)

Comptes Rendus Palevol, In Press, Available online 24 August 2005,
manuscript 9pp

Pascal Godefroit, Hong Li and Chang-Yong Shang

The right dentary of a new hadrosauroid dinosaur, Penelopognathus
weishampeli, has been discovered in the Bayan Gobi Formation (Albian,
Lower Cretaceous) of Inner Mongolia (P.R. China). This new taxon is
characterised by its elongated, straight dental ramus, whose lateral
side is pierced by about 20 irregularly distributed foramina. Its
dentary teeth appear more primitive than those of Probactrosaurus, but
more advanced than those of Altirhinus, both also from the Lower
Cretaceous of the Gobi area. Non-hadrosaurid Hadrosauroidea were
already well diversified in eastern Asia by Early Cretaceous time,
suggesting an Asian origin for the hadrosauroid clade.

forwarded from Serder

The etymology for Penelopognathus weishampeli is pretty cool, refering to 
Penelops: Greek for
?wild duck?; Penelope is also the name of Odysseus? wife, forced to fend off 
suitors while her
husband is away fighting at Troy. Gnathos: Greek for ?jaw?. weishampeli: 
obviously in honour of
D.B.Weishampel, for his important contribution in the knowledge of duck-billed 
dinosaurs.







                
__________________________________ 
Yahoo! Mail for Mobile 
Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone. 
http://mobile.yahoo.com/learn/mail