Pronunciation: gil-MOH-ro-SOR-us
Meaning: Gilmore's lizard
Author/s: Brett-Surman (1979) (1979)
Synonyms: Mandschurosaurus mongoliensis
First Discovery: Nei Mongol, China
Discovery Chart Position: #264
Gilmoreosaurus mongoliensis
Gilmoreosaurus was named by Brett-Surman in 1979 on the strength of fossils from several different localities that were initially bundled into the dubious Mandschurosaurus, whose remains were previously assigned to the equally dubious Trachodon. A strict consensus on its exact affinities remains unreached, not least because of a weird combination of basal iguanodontian and hadrosaurid traits that have long puzzled paleontologists. But it has gradually crept further from the former and closer to the latter with ongoing research, and most experts embrace Gilmore's lizard as a non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroid these days.
Hadrosauroidae is a diverse family of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaurs, including the "duck-billed" hadrosaurids and all dinosaurs closer to them than to Iguanodon, that thrived from the Aptian-Maastrichtian of the Late Cretaceous and have an advanced chewing system on par with modern cows to thank for much of their success. However, some were more successful than others. When Rothschild subjected Gilmoreosaurus fossils to new-fangled computerized tomography and fluoroscopic screening in 2003, he found evidence of hemangiomas, desmoplastic fibroma, metastatic cancer, and osteoblastoma, none of which are good. The likes ofBrachylophosaurus, Edmontosaurus, and Bactrosaurus tested positive too. But that's scant consolation when dodgy genes or environmental effects have put you on a hiding to nothing, despite your best efforts.
Hadrosauroidae is a diverse family of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaurs, including the "duck-billed" hadrosaurids and all dinosaurs closer to them than to Iguanodon, that thrived from the Aptian-Maastrichtian of the Late Cretaceous and have an advanced chewing system on par with modern cows to thank for much of their success. However, some were more successful than others. When Rothschild subjected Gilmoreosaurus fossils to new-fangled computerized tomography and fluoroscopic screening in 2003, he found evidence of hemangiomas, desmoplastic fibroma, metastatic cancer, and osteoblastoma, none of which are good. The likes ofBrachylophosaurus, Edmontosaurus, and Bactrosaurus tested positive too. But that's scant consolation when dodgy genes or environmental effects have put you on a hiding to nothing, despite your best efforts.
(Gilmore's lizard from Mongolia)Etymology
Gilmoreosaurus is derived from "Gilmore" (for American paleontologist Charles Whitney Gilmore [1874-1945] who originally described these remains as "Mandschurosaurus" mongoliensis) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). The species epithet, mongoliensis, means "from Mongolia" in Latin.
Discovery
The first fossils of Gilmoreosaurus were discovered at AMNH quarry 149 in the Iren Dabasu Formation, 14 km east of the Iren Dabasu telegraph station and 14 km northeast of the town of Erenhot, Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia), China, by George Olsen in 1923, during the Central Asiatic Expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History, led by Walter Grange. A second quarry (AMNH quarry 145), 1 km from the first, yielded further remains.
The holotype was initially "lot catalogued" as AMNH 6551 and included a huge number of elements from numerous individuals. In 2010, Prieto-Márquez and Norell recatalogued the entire lot and assigned each fossil it's own number. They chose AMNH FARB 30735 (a complete right ilium of the hip) as lectotype.
