[D] Sahaliyania elunchunorum [Su] [sG] [T]
Describer
Godefroit, Hai, Yu & Lauters 2008
Time
Cretaceous Late Maastrichtian
Classification
Ornithischia Ornithopoda Hadrosauridae Lambeosaurinae
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Yuliangze Formation Wulaga, Heilongjiang province,Coordinates of the site: N 4823’40.9’’ E 13008’44.6’’. China
Info
Genus - Typespecies - Skull
Holotype
GMH W453, a partial skull.
Material
Braincase GMH W453; jugals GMH W200−A, W281, W400−5, 424,Wunnumbered; maxillaeGMHW199; quadrates GMH W31, W271, W342, W367, W394, W404, W476; dentaries GMH W33, W50−1, W105, W140, W153, W201, W227, W228, W290, W298, W324−A, W393, W418, W419−A, W424, W451, 457, W461, W465, W466, W501; scapulae GMH W1, W21, W31, W52, W148, W182, W202, W210, W214, W222, W272, W284, W286, W291, W309, W360, W373, W387, W392, W394, W400−1, W400−6, W422, W463, W473; sternalsGMHW165, W246, W406−A; humeri GMH W15, W42, W58, W59, W110, W116, W154, W158, W168, W 192−A, W 192−B, W 201, W232, W240, W250, W271, W303, W317, W344, W367, W392, W402, W410, W411, W413−A; ilia GMH WJ1, WJ4, W23, W45, W51, W103, W173, W228, W243−A, W273, W301, W311, W359, W370, W421; ischia GMH W10, W13, W50−6, W51, W136−A, W146, W171, W177, W179, W180, W197, W233−B, W255, W270, W291, W310, W375, W400−13, W404, W415−A, W415−B, W471−D; pubes GMH W10, W13, W51, W136, W146, W171, W177, W179, W180, W197, W233, W270, W291, W 310, W375, W379, W400−13, W404, W415−A, W 415−B, W471.
Ethymology
“Sahaliyan” means black in Manchu language and refers to Amur/Heilongjiang River (Sahaliyan Ula).The Elunchun nationality is one of the smallest Chinese minorities. These hunters lived for generations in the Wulaga area.
Diagnosis
Lambeosaurine dinosaur characterised by the following autapomorphies: paroccipital processes long, very slender, with a slightly convex dorsal border and a slightly concave ventral border; lateral depressions on the dorsal surface of the frontal better developed than in other lambeosaurines, and not associated with a median doming of the bone; quadratojugal notch displaced ventrally; middle of the notch located well below the middle of the height of the quadrate; prepubic blade always more expanded dorsally than ventrally.
Also differs from Charonosaurus, Olorotitan, Parasaurolophus, and Corythosaurus, by the important ventral deflection of the rostral part of its dentary, which forms an angle of about 30 with the long axis of caudal part of the bone; differs from Amurosaurus by the symmetrical alar process on its basisphenoid, its frontals wider than long and by its well−developed maxillary shelf; differs from Charonosaurus and Parasaurolophus by the short rostral platform of its frontal; differs from Olorotitan by the rounded rostral process of its jugal, by the straight ventral margin of its maxilla, and by the longer preacetabular process of its ilium (ratio ilium length/preacetabular length = 2.1); differs from Tsintaosaurus by the presence of a rostral platform on its frontal and by the median ramus of its squamosal lower than its paroccipital process. (Godefroit, P., Hai, S., Yu, T., and Lauters, P. 2008 )