Pararhabdodon

Name: Pararhabdodon ‭(‬Near Rhabdodon‭)‬.
Phonetic: Pah-rah-rab-doe-don.
Named By: Casanovas-Cladellas,‭ ‬Santafe-Llopis‭ & ‬Isidoro-Llorens‭ ‬-‭ ‬1993.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Ornithopoda,‭ ‬Iguanodontidae,‭ ‬Hadrosauroidea,‭ ‬Hadrosauridae,‭ ‬Lambeosaurinae‭?
Species: P.‭ ‬isonensis‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Roughly estimated to be around‭ ‬6‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: Spain‭ ‬-‭ ‬Tremp Formation.‭ ‬Possibly France.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial and fragmentary post cranial remains.




       A poorly known genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur,‭ ‬Pararhabdodon fossils were initially thought to be from a species of the genus Rhabdodon.‭ ‬New study resulted in the establishment of a new genus,‭ ‬Pararhabdodon,‭ ‬with the description being based upon the caudal‭ (‬tail‭) ‬vertebrae.‭ ‬Early fossil assignment for the genus was mostly vertebrae with a partial scapula,‭ ‬though since this time further remains have since been added.‭ ‬These include further vertebrae,‭ ‬a maxilla‭ (‬part of the skull that holds the teeth‭)‬,‭ ‬humerus‭ (‬upper fore limb bone‭)‬,‭ ‬end of an ischium‭ (‬rear pelvis bone‭) ‬and a sacrum‭ (‬part of the pelvis that wraps the sacral vertebrae,‭ ‬the part of the spine that passes through the pelvis‭)‬.‭ ‬Material from France has also been considered but is not always mentioned.‭ ‬Because of the sparse and incomplete nature of the currently known fossils of this genus,‭ ‬it is hard to establish anything more that Pararhabdodon being a hadrosaurid dinosaur.‭ ‬Past speculation has gone as far as to suggest that Pararhabdodon was a lambeosaurine hadrosaurid‭ (‬the kind with hollow head crests such as Lambeosaurus‭)‬,‭ ‬but not all palaeontologists agree with this assessment.

Further reading
- Pararhabdodon isonense n.‭ ‬gen.‭ ‬n.‭ ‬sp.‭ (‬Dinosauria‭)‬.‭ ‬Morphology,‭ ‬radio-tomographic study,‭ ‬and biomechanic considerations,‭ ‬Casanovas-Cladellas,‭ ‬M.L.,‭ ‬Santaf�-Llopis,‭ ‬J.V.,‭ ‬and Isidoro-Llorens,‭ ‬A‭ ‬-‭ ‬1993.
- First lambeosaurine hadrosaurid from Europe:‭ ‬palaeobiogeographical implications,‭ ‬Casanovas,‭ ‬M.L,‭ ‬Pereda-Suberbiola,‭ ‬X.,‭ ‬Santaf�,‭ ‬J.V.,‭ ‬and Weishampel,‭ ‬D.B‭ ‬-‭ ‬1999.
- Hadrosauroid dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of Spain: Pararhabdodon isonensis revisited and Koutalisaurus kohlerorum, gen. et sp. nov. - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(4): 929-943. - A. Prieto-Marquez, R. Gaete, G. Rivas, A. Galobart & M. Boada - 2006.
- The osteohistology of new remains of Pararhabdodon isonensis sheds light into the life history and paleoecology of this enigmatic European lambeosaurine dinosaur. - Cretaceous Research. 118. - Jes�s F. Serrano, Albert G. Sell�s, Bernat Vila, �ngel Galobart & Albert Prieto-M�rquez - 2020.



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