Tag: Palaeontologists

The new species was a type of iguanodontian, a major group of ornithopod dinosaurs.

Evolutionarily, they sit between small, early bipedal ornithopods and the later, highly specialized duck-billed dinosaurs (hadrosaurs).

“Iguanodontia were the dominant herbivorous dinosaurs in most terrestrial ecosystems throughout the Cretaceous,” said Dr. Pascal Godefroit from the Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels and his colleagues.

“The clade reached its zenith during the closing stage of this period, as hadrosaurids — or duck-billed dinosaurs — spread over most continents.”

“The discovery of remarkable ‘mummies’ from North America and Mongolia revealed precious information about hadrosaurid integument, which consisted of an intricate and often mosaic arrangement of tubercle-like and non-imbricating scales, with enlarged tabular scales along their dorsal midline.”