[D] Qantassaurus intrepidus [sG] [T]
Describer
Rich & Vickers-Rich, 1999
Time
Cretaceous Early Albian
Classification
Ornithischia Ornithopoda Hypsilophodontidae
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Wonthaggi Formation, Strzelecki Group, Victoria; Dinosaur Cove, Queensland, Australia
Length
1,8 meter
Info
Genus - Typespecies
Named after the Australian airline for a smallish hypsilophodontid (1 metre high) to be described from Dinosaur Cove.
Holotype
Holotype is a dentary and tooth, found at the Flat Rocks site in the Strzelecki Group of deposits near Inverloch in Victoria and there is a referred dentary with teeth as well.
It is distinguished from other hypsilophodontid species by having only 12 teeth in the lower jaw, whereas most other species had 14 or more. This suggests that Qantassaurus may have had a shorter, deeper face than other hypsilophodontids.
A small collection of hypsilophodontid dinosaurs consisting primarily of isolated bones and teeth, has been made over the past two decades from the late Early Cretaceous coastal outcrops in southeastern Australia. Fragmentary though the bulk of this material is, on dental evidence it is possible to recognize three different genera and species Leaellynasaura amicagraphica, Atlascopcosaurus loadsi and Qantassaurus intrepidus gen. et sp. nov.
The femora are allocated to Leaellynasaura amicagraphica and Fulgurotherium australe. The femora of F. australe show a marked diversity in size and shape suggesting that when the material assigned to this form species is better known, it could well be divided into three or more genera.\\\\\\\"