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Muttaburrasaurus

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Dinosaurs

                    iMuttaburrasaurus
   Muttaburrasaurus skeleton at the Queensland Museum.
   Muttaburrasaurus skeleton
   at the Queensland Museum.

                             Conservation status

   Extinct (fossil)
                Scientific classification

   Kingdom:    Animalia
   Phylum:     Chordata
   Class:      Sauropsida
   Superorder: Dinosauria
   Order:      Ornithischia
   Suborder:   Ornithopoda
   Infraorder: Iguanodontia
   Family:     Rhabdodontidae
   Genus:      Muttaburrasaurus
   Species:    M. langdoni

                                Binomial name

   Muttaburrasaurus langdoni
   Bartholomai & Molnar, 1981

   Muttaburrasaurus was a herbivorous ornithopod dinosaur related to
   Camptosaurus and Iguanodon, from the early Cretaceous Period of what is
   now northeastern Australia. After Minmi, it is Australia's most
   completely known dinosaur from skeletal remains.

Discovery and species

   The species was initially described from a partial skeleton found by
   Doug Langdon in 1963 near Muttaburra, Queensland, Australia, which
   place also provides the creature's name. It was named in 1981 by Dr
   Alan Bartholomai and Ralph Molnar, who honoured its discoverer with its
   specific name langdoni. Some teeth have been discovered further north,
   near Hughenden and south at Lightning Ridge, in Northwestern New South
   Wales. A skull, known as the "Dunluce Skull" was discovered by John
   Stewart-Moore and 14 year old Robert Walker on Dunluce Station, between
   Hughenden and Richmond in 1987.

   Muttaburrasaurus species
     * M. langdoni ( type)

Paleobiology

   Muttaburrasaurus was capable of either ( bipedal) or ( quadrupedal)
   movement. The three middle digits of the forelimb were joined together
   into a hoof-like pad for walking on.

   Muttaburrasaurus had very powerful jaws equipped with shearing teeth.
   These were probably an adaptation for eating tough vegetation such as
   cycads. It also had an enlarged, hollow, upward-bulging muzzle that
   might have been used to produce distinctive calls or for display
   purposes. However, as no fossilised nasal tissue has been found, this
   remains conjectural.

In popular culture

   Another view of cast in Queensland Museum
   Enlarge
   Another view of cast in Queensland Museum

   Reconstructed skeleton casts are on display at the Queensland Museum in
   Brisbane, the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Katsuyama, Japan,
   and at the Flinders Discovery Centre in Hughenden, Queensland.

   Muttaburrasaurus appeared on the fifth episode of Walking with
   Dinosaurs.

   A Muttaburrasaurus character would also be featured in the third " The
   Land Before Time" sequel.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muttaburrasaurus"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
