Lanzhousaurus magnidens

Lanzhousaurus magnidens gen. et sp. nov. from Gansu Province, China: the largest-toothed herbivorous dinosaur in the world

Hai-lu You, Qiang Ji, Da-qing Li

Abstract: A new ornithopod dinosaur, Lanzhousaurus magnidens gen. et sp. nov., from the Early Cretaceous of the Lanzhou Basin, Gansu Province, China, possesses the largest teeth of any herbivorous dinosaur yet discovered. The dental morphology of Lanzhousaurus, in which only 14, ~4 cm-wide tooth families are preserved in the tooth row of the 1 m long lower jaw, augments the known morphological diversity of dinosaurs. Cladistic analysis recovers a close relationship between L. magnidens and Lurdusaurus arenatus from the Early Cretaceous of Africa. Together, these species represent a previously unrecognized, massively-constructed quadrupedal lineage in the evolution of ornithopod dinosaurs. This discovery also implies a close connection between Eurasia and Africa during the Early Cretaceous.