Pronunciation: JOO-chan-go-SOR-us
Meaning: Zhucheng (city) lizard
Author/s: Zhao et al. (2007)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Shandong Province, China
Acta Ordinal: #
Zhuchengosaurus maximus
For thirty-four years, Shantungosaurus reigned supreme as the largest known ornithischian and biggest hadrosaur, and then—BAM!—along came Zhuchengosaurus maximus and knocked its crown off.
If you're going to be stealing the big dog's thunder, you really need to be over sixteen meters long and as heavy as three elephants, and Zhuchengosaurus was. But several notable similarities between the two, as well as their discovery in the exact same area, were always likely to raise the odd issue.
Known from the remains of several individuals, including skull bones, limb bones, and vertebrae found in Shandong, China, and named by Zhao et al. in 2007, Zhuchengosaurus was revisited in 2011 by Ji, Wang, and Liu, who concluded that its supposedly unique features were merely growth-related and it simply represents an older specimen of Shantungosaurus. Funnily enough, no sooner had they published their results than lead author Zhao named an even bigger saurolophine Huaxiaosaurus, and that was found in exactly the same area too.
Known from the remains of several individuals, including skull bones, limb bones, and vertebrae found in Shandong, China, and named by Zhao et al. in 2007, Zhuchengosaurus was revisited in 2011 by Ji, Wang, and Liu, who concluded that its supposedly unique features were merely growth-related and it simply represents an older specimen of Shantungosaurus. Funnily enough, no sooner had they published their results than lead author Zhao named an even bigger saurolophine Huaxiaosaurus, and that was found in exactly the same area too.
Etymology
Zhuchengosaurus combines "Zhucheng" (a city close to its discovery in China's Shandong Province) with the Greek "sauros" (lizard). The species epithet, maximus, refers to its great size.
