Summary
Latirhinus (meaning "broad nose" from the Latin latus (broad) and Greek ῥίς, rhis (nose)) is an extinct genus of lambeosaurine[1] hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mexico. The type species, Latirhinus uitstlani, was named in 2012 on the basis of a partial skeleton from the Campanian-age Cerro del Pueblo Formation. The specific name uitstlani means "southern" in the Náhuatl language of Mexico, a reference to the species' southern occurrence in the Cretaceous landmass Laramidia.
| Latirhinus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
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| Reconstructed skeleton, Universum (UNAM) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
| Family: | †Hadrosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Lambeosaurinae |
| Genus: | †Latirhinus Prieto-Márquez and Serrano-Brañas, 2012 |
| Type species | |
| †Latirhinus uitstlani Prieto-Márquez and Serrano-Brañas, 2012
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Discovery and research edit
During the 1980s, a team from UNAM's Geological Institute, including Shelton P. Applegate, René Hernández-Rivera, Espinosa-Arrubarrena, the SEPC team, and some volunteers, excavated the remains of a dinosaur near the town of Presa de San Antonio, belonging to the Cerro del Pueblo Formation in the Parras Basin, located in Coahuila, Mexico. The specimen was found by Don Ramón López, which was a juvenile specimen of 6 meters long, 2.2 height at the waist, and an estimated weight of 3 tons, of which 65% was recovered.[2] This was the first dinosaur skeleton from Mexico to be mounted for public display.[3] This specimen, though fairly complete, lacked a skull, but was identified as the saurolophine Kritosaurus sp. based on comparisons with Kritosaurus incurvimanus, which is now considered a more recent synonym of Gryposaurus notabilis.[4] Due to its importance, the skeleton was given the informal name of "Isauria", and it is exhibited in the Museum of the Institute of Geology of the UNAM, Universum, Museo Papalote in the State of Hidalgo, Museo del Desierto, and several private parks. Serrano-Brañas, in 2006, identified one of the bones collected as a supposed nasal, and together with the appendicular skeleton, he referred to the genus Gryposaurus in his thesis.[5][6]
Description edit
The holotype specimen, IGM 6583, consists of a partial skeleton including a partial right nasal, 10 dorsal and 14 caudal vertebrae, the right coracoid, left scapula, both humeri and ulna, right III and IV metacarpals, periacetabular process of Right ilium, iliac peduncle of the right ischium, both femurs, tibiae, and fibulae, left talus, right and left metatarsals III and IV, and several proximal phalanges of the right foot.[7]
Latirhinus was probably a gregarious hadrosaurid, about 6.8 m in length, with a low back and a very broad nose. However, some authors suggest that it was actually a lambeosaurine, instead of a saurolophine as it was initially described, thus making the phylogenetic position of this animal in relation to other hadrosaurids still uncertain.[8][9]
Classification edit
Latirhinus was originally thought to be similar to the saurolophine Gryposaurus. However, a 2012 study found its holotype, as originally defined, to be a chimera comprising both lambeosaurine and saurolophine remains; the holotype bones would've belonged to a lambeosaurine.[7] While this position has been accepted by other researchers,[10][11] there are still disagreements over where Latirhinus falls within Lambeosaurinae. The first cladogram shows Latirhinus as a basal lambeosaurine,[10] while the second shows an alternate position as a derived member of Lambeosaurini.[11]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Ángel Alejandro Ramírez-Velasco; Jesús Alvarado-Ortega; Luis Espinosa-Arrubarrena (2021). "Review of the taxonomic affinities of Latirhinus uitstlani, an emblematic Mexican hadrosaurid". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 110: 103391. Bibcode:2021JSAES.11003391R. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103391.
- ^ Rivera-Sylva, H. E. (2010). Los dinosaurios de México. Ciencias, (98), 40-51.
- ^ "Dinosaurios mexicanos". 21 June 2010.
- ^ Prieto-Márquez, A. (2010). "Global phylogeny of Hadrosauridae (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) using parsimony and Bayesian methods". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 159 (2): 435–502. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00617.x.
- ^ Serrano-Brañas, C. I. (2006). Descripción de los Dinosaurios pertenecientes a la familia Hadrosauridae del Cretácico Superior de Coahuila, México. Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, D.F., México, 173 pp.
- ^ Ramírez-Velasco, A. A., Hernández-Rivera, R., & Servin-Pichardo, R. (2014). The Hadrosaurian Record from Mexico. Hadrosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 340-360.
- ^ a b Prieto-Márquez, Albert; Serrano Brañas, Claudia Inés (2012). "Latirhinus uitstlani, a 'broad-nosed' saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from the late Campanian (Cretaceous) of northern Mexico". Historical Biology. 24 (6): 607–619. doi:10.1080/08912963.2012.671311. S2CID 128964878.
- ^ Ramírez-Velasco, A.A.; Hernández-Rivera, R. (2015). "Los dinosaurios de México: su historia contada por huesos y dientes". Revista Digital Universitaria. 16 (11): 1–19. ISSN 1607-6079.
- ^ Rivera-Sylva, H. E., & Carpenter, K. (2014). The ornithischian dinosaurs of Mexico. Dinosaurs and other reptiles from the Mesozoic of Mexico. Indiana University Press, Bloomigton, Indiana, 156-180.
- ^ a b Serrano-Brañas, Claudia Inés; Prieto-Márquez, Albert (2022). "Taphonomic attributes of the holotype of the lambeosaurine dinosaur Latirhinus uitstlani from the late Campanian of Mexico: Implications for its phylogenetic systematics". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 114: 103689. Bibcode:2022JSAES.11403689S. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103689.
- ^ a b Ramírez-Velasco, Angel Alejandro (2022). "Phylogenetic and biogeography analysis of Mexican hadrosauroids". Cretaceous Research. 138: 105267. Bibcode:2022CrRes.13805267R. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105267. S2CID 249559319.
Further reading edit
- Ramírez-Velasco, Ángel Alejandro; Espinosa-Arrubarrena, Luis; Alvarado-Ortega, Jesús (May 2021). "Review of the taxonomic affinities of Latirhinus uitstlani, an emblematic Mexican hadrosaurid". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 110: 103391. Bibcode:2021JSAES.11003391R. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103391.