Fossils Found in South China Identified
as Duck-billed Dinosaur

Beijing, 11 Feb (ONA) — Scientists
have confirmed that a set of skeletal fossils discovered in southern China
belonged to duck-billed dinosaurs from over 70 million years ago, expanding the
region’s fossil record of these large, toothy creatures that likely migrated
from North America.

The bones were found in May 2009 by
a Chinese amateur fossil hunter at a construction site in Taipinggang, Sihui
City, Guangdong Province, and he donated them to a local museum.

After cleaning and restoration,
researchers in 2020 identified the fossilized skeleton comprising dorsal and
caudal vertebrae, a humerus, ilium, femur and tibia. They believe the fossils
belong to the tribe Lambeosaurini, a subfamily of plant-eating Hadrosauroidea
dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous period.

The study, led by paleontologists
from China and Canada, was published in the journal Historical Biology in late
January.

According to the research team,
Hadrosauroidea is renowned for its distinctive duck-billed mouth structure. These
dinosaurs had thousands of teeth well arranged within their jaws, enabling them
to exhibit strong chewing efficiency and viability.

Lambeosaurini also possesses a
unique cranial structure featuring narrow hollow nasal bones, which is likely
responsible for their ability to make trumpet-like sounds that they use for
communication.

First author Wang Donghao, a PhD
student from China University of Geosciences (Beijing), noted that the research
team had identified long and narrow neural spines on the fossil specimen, which
is an extremely rare feature. However, the fossils are mainly fragmentary bones
and were not well-preserved, lacking substantial biological information about
the dinosaur’s cranial structure.

The researchers estimated that the
creatures were not yet fully grown, measuring about 8 meters in length. They
identified them as a more derived clade of Lambeosaurini dinosaurs that
migrated from North America back to Asia via the Bering Strait, as their tall
and narrow neural spines are a common trait among North American dinosaurs.

The fossilized bones are the first
record of Lambeosaurini in south China, and “they represent the only
evidence suggesting a potential migration of North American dinosaurs to the
region in Late Cretaceous,” co-author Xing Lida, a paleontologist from the
university said, noting that the study will help understand the ecological
conditions across various regions before the mass extinction during the Late
Cretaceous period.

— Ends/Khalid