- Macrogryphosaurus
Taxobox
name = "Macrogryphosaurus"
fossil_range =Late Cretaceous
regnum =Animal ia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo =Dinosaur ia
ordo =Ornithischia
subordo =Ornithopod a
infraordo =Iguanodontia
unranked_familia =Elasmaria
genus = "Macrogryphosaurus"
genus_authority=Calvo "et al.", 2007
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"M. gondwanicus" Calvo "et al.", 2007 (type)"Macrogryphosaurus" (meaning "big enigmatic lizard") is a
genus of basaliguanodont dinosaur from theTuronian -earlyConiacian ageUpper Cretaceous Portezuelo Formation (Neuquén Group ) ofPatagonia ,Argentina . It was described by Jorge Calvo and colleagues, with "M. gondwanicus" astype species (referring to the animal coming fromGondwana ).cite journal |last=Calvo |first=J.O. |coauthors=Porfiri, J.D.; and Novas, F.E. |year=2007 |title=Discovery of a new ornithopod dinosaur from the Portezuelo Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina. |journal=Arquivos do Museu Nacional |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=471–483 ]"Macrogryphosaurus" is based on MUCPv-321, a partial articulated
postcranial skeleton. This specimen includes much of thevertebra l column, ribs, completepelvis ,sternum , and four thoracic plates. These thin plates, situated alongside the ribcage, are like those of "Talenkauen ", another iguanodontian from the late Cretaceous of Argentina. "Macrogryphosaurus" was somewhat larger, though; MUCPv-321 is estimated at 6 meters long (20 ft), and this individual was probably not fully grown based on the lack of fusion in some vertebrae. It therefore is one of the largest known South Americanornithopod s outside ofhadrosaurid s. A phylogenetic analysis indicates that it is related to "Talenkauen" as a basal iguanodontian, and Calvo and colleagues proposed a newclade ,Elasmaria , for the two genera. Like other basal iguanodontians, it would have been a bipedalherbivore .cite book |last= Norman|first=David B. |editor= Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.)|title=The Dinosauria |edition=2nd |year= 2004|publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=0-520-24209-2 |pages=pp. 413-437 |chapter=Basal Iguanodontia]References
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