Pascal Godefroit, Yuri Bolotsky, and Ivan Bolotsky (2012)
Osteology and relationships of Olorotitan arharensis, a hollow-crested hadrosaurid dinosaur from the latest Cretaceous of Far Eastern Russia
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 57(3):527-560.
the most complete dinosaur discovered in Russia and one of the best preserved lambeosaurines outside western North
America. This taxon is diagnosed by following autapomorphies: large helmet−like hollow crest higher than the rest of the
skull and extending caudally well beyond the level of the occiput; very high postorbital process of jugal (ratio height of
postorbital process/length of jugal = 1); rostral portion of the jugal shorter than in other lambeosaurines, with a perfectly
straight rostral margin; very asymmetrical maxilla in lateral view, with ventral margin distinctly downturned; very elon−
gated neck composed of 18 cervical vertebrae; tibia as high as the femur; shorter cnemial crest, about one fifth of tibia
length. A phylogenetic analysis, based on 118 cranial, dental, and postcranial characters, indicates that Olorotitan is a
member of the Corythosaurini clade, and is the sister taxon of Corythosaurus casuarius, Hypacrosaurus stebingeri, and
Hypacrosaurus altispinus. The high diversity and mosaic distribution of Maastrichtian hadrosaurid faunas in the
Amur−Heilongjiang region are the result of a complex palaeogeographical history and imply that many independent
hadrosaurid lineages dispersed readily between western America and eastern Asia at the end of the Cretaceous.
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- DOI: 10.4202/app.2011.0051
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