Lanzhousaurus

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title: "Lanzhousaurus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ankylopollexia", "dinosaur-genera", "barremian-dinosaurs", "taxa-named-by-hailu-you", "fossil-taxa-described-in-2005", "dinosaurs-of-china"] description: "Extinct genus of dinosaurs" topic_path: "geography/china" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanzhousaurus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of dinosaurs ::

| fossil_range = Early Cretaceous, | image = Skeleton of Lanzhousaurus magnidens.jpg | image_caption = Skeletal mount of Lanzhousaurus | taxon = Lanzhousaurus | authority = You, Ji & Li, 2005 | type_species = Lanzhousaurus magnidens | type_species_authority = You, Ji & Li, 2005 Lanzhousaurus (meaning "Lanzhou lizard") is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived in the Gansu region of what is now China during the Early Cretaceous (Barremian). Described by You, Ji, and Li in 2005, the type and only species is Lanzhousaurus magnidens, known from a partial skeleton recovered from the Hekou Group. It has been estimated to be about 10 m in length and 6 t in weight.

Dentition

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Lanzhousaurus_(jaw_and_teeth).png" caption="Jaw and teeth of ''Lanzhousaurus''"] ::

The genus has been described as having "astonishingly huge teeth", among the largest for any herbivorous creature ever, which indicate it was a styracosternan iguanodont. The mandible, longer than one meter, suggests a very large size for the animal. Tooth enamel of this dinosaur was growing very rapidly.

Classification

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Lanzhousaurus_TD.png" caption="[[Life restoration"] ::

In their 2020 reassessment of the hadrosauromorph Orthomerus, Madzia, Jagt & Mulder ran phylogenetic analyses of Iguanodontia. In their analyses, Lanzhousaurus was recovered as a non-hadrosauriform styracosternan member of the Ankylopollexia, similar to the 2005 description by You, Ji & Li. The results of their phylogenetic analyses are shown in the cladogram below: |{{clade |1=Camptosaurus |label2=Styracosterna |2={{clade |1=Cumnoria |2=Uteodon |3=Draconyx |4={{clade |1=Planicoxa |2=Theiophytalia |3=Hippodraco |4=Owenodon |5=Muttaburrasaurus |6={{clade |1=Dakotadon |2=Osmakasaurus |3={{clade |1=Cedrorestes |2=Iguanacolossus }} |4={{clade |1=Lanzhousaurus |2={{clade |1=Yunganglong |2=Fukuisaurus |label3=Hadrosauriformes |3={{clade |1=Siamodon |2=Hypselospinus |3=Barilium |4=Lurdusaurus |5=Iguanodontidae |6=Hadrosauroidea

References

References

1. (2005). "''Lanzhousaurus magnidens'' gen. et sp. nov. from Gansu Province, China: the largest-toothed herbivorous dinosaur in the world". Geological Bulletin of China.
2. Paul, Gregory S.. (2016). "The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (2nd ed.)". Princeton University Press.
3. [[Celina A. Suarez]], Hai-Lu You, Marina B. Suarez, Da-Qing Li & J. B. Trieschmann (2017). Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Enamel Elongation (Amelogenesis) Rates for the Early Cretaceous Iguanodontian Dinosaur ''Lanzhousaurus magnidens''. ''Scientific Reports'' '''7''', Article number: 15319 (2017). [[doi:10.1038/s41598-017-15653-6]]
4. (2020-04-01). "Osteology, phylogenetic affinities and taxonomic status of the enigmatic late Maastrichtian ornithopod taxon ''Orthomerus dolloi'' (Dinosauria, Ornithischia)". [[Cretaceous Research]].

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