Dinopedia


Corythosaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Corythosaurus casuarius
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Family: Hadrosauridae
Subfamily: Lambeosaurinae
Genus: Corythosaurus
Brown, 1914
Species
  • C. casuarius Brown, 1914 (type)
  • C. intermedius Parks, 1923
  • C. "excavatus" Gilmore, 1923
  • C. bicristatus Parks, 1935
  • C. brevicristatus Parks, 1935

Corythosaurus is a genus of ornithopod. It was a large plant-eating hadrosaur. It was about 30-33 feet (9-10 meters) long, 6.6 feet (2 meters) tall at the hips, and weighed 3-5 tons.

Corythosaurus may have used air passage in its crest to make honking, lowing, bellowing and booming calls.

Etymology[]

Like other hadrosaurs, it had a hollow, bony crest on top of its long head in the shape of a helmet flattened on the sides (Corythosaurus means "helmet lizard"). Its likely functions were sound projection and recognition. Males had larger crests than females and juveniles.

Locomotion[]

Corythosaurus was like other hadrosaurids, and could move on both two legs and all fours (meaning that it was bipedal and quadrupedal), as shown by footprints of related animals. It had a long tail stiffened by ossified tendons that prevented it from drooping. The hands had four fingers, lacking the innermost finger of the generalized five-fingered tetrapod hand, while the second, third, and fourth fingers were bunched together and bore hooves, suggesting the animal could have used the hands for support. The fifth finger was free and could be used to manipulate objects. Each foot had only the three central toes.

References[]

Horner J.R; Weishampel D.B. & Forster C.A. 2004. "Hadrosauridae". In Weishampel, David B; Dodson, Peter & Osmólska, Halszka (eds) The Dinosauria (2nd ed). Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 438–463. ISBN 0-520-24209-2

In popular culture[]

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