Pronunciation: KUHR-buh-ro-SOR-us
Meaning: Cerberus lizard
Author/s: Bolotsky and Godefroit (2004)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Blagoveschensk, Russia
Discovery Chart Position: #538
Kerberosaurus manakini
Although a vegetarian and presumably meek and mild, the Russian Kerberosaurus is named after a ferocious three-headed dog that guards the gate to Hades in Greek mythology. In our quest to discover why, we accidentally dropped a letter from its epithet but didn't realise until a rerun of the movie "Borat", in which a crazy Kazakh strolls around in the most disturbing menswear, and thought we'd better check our references. Yup, we goofed and had it listed as "mankini". It's bizarre that Borat is from Kazakstan, Kerberosaurus is from Russia, and the two countries are next-door neighbours, with the latter previously ruling over the former. Perhaps there's some higher power at work here? Or maybe we're just clutching at straws to justify our idiocy. Unfortunately, Kerberosaurus manakini doesn't get much more interesting than this.
In a scenario mirroring that of Wulagasaurus dongi from the Yuliangze Formation of northern Heilongjiang, the flat-headed saurolophine Kerberosaurus was also found in a quarry alongside a poorly preserved Lambeosaurine, in this case, Amurosaurus riabinini. However, as excavations progressed, Amurosaurus became one of the best-represented hadrosaurids from the whole of Asia. And Kerberosaurus? Well, not so much.
Kerberosaurus manakini is known only from a partial skull that looks suspiciously similar to the corresponding part of another hadrosaurid, Kundurosaurus nagornyi, which lived in the same place and time. Many palaeontologists suspect that the latter may be a second species of the former or perhaps a second specimen of the same creature, with either scenario granting Kerberosaurus priority as its name arrived first. The remains of both critters are fragmentary, but those who have taken the time to scrutinize them, namely Yuri Bolotsky, who, funnily enough, named the pair, found a handful of distinguishing characteristics in the scant few fossils that are directly comparable.
In a scenario mirroring that of Wulagasaurus dongi from the Yuliangze Formation of northern Heilongjiang, the flat-headed saurolophine Kerberosaurus was also found in a quarry alongside a poorly preserved Lambeosaurine, in this case, Amurosaurus riabinini. However, as excavations progressed, Amurosaurus became one of the best-represented hadrosaurids from the whole of Asia. And Kerberosaurus? Well, not so much.
Kerberosaurus manakini is known only from a partial skull that looks suspiciously similar to the corresponding part of another hadrosaurid, Kundurosaurus nagornyi, which lived in the same place and time. Many palaeontologists suspect that the latter may be a second species of the former or perhaps a second specimen of the same creature, with either scenario granting Kerberosaurus priority as its name arrived first. The remains of both critters are fragmentary, but those who have taken the time to scrutinize them, namely Yuri Bolotsky, who, funnily enough, named the pair, found a handful of distinguishing characteristics in the scant few fossils that are directly comparable.
(Manakin's Kerberos Lizard)Etymology
Kerberosaurus is derived from the Greek "kerberos" (Aka "Cerberus", a three-headed hound, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, who guards the entrance to Hades, keeping the dead in and the living out) and "sauros" (lizard).
The species epithet, manakini, honors Colonel Manakin of the Russian Army, who pioneered palaeontological research in the Amur Region after buying Amur Riverbank fossils from local fishermen in 1902.
Discovery
The remains of Kerberosaurus were discovered at Blagoveschensk in the Tsagayan Formation (previously the Udurchukan Formation of the Tsagayan Group), Amur, Far Eastern Russia, by Yuri Bolotsky in 1984.The holotype (AENM 1/319) is a partial skull.
