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Information about Hadrosaurus

Hadrosaurus
Fossil range: Late Cretaceous
Enlarge picture
An early depiction of Hadrosaurus

An early depiction of Hadrosaurus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Sauropsida
Superorder:Dinosauria
Order:Ornithischia
Infraorder:Ornithopoda
Family:Hadrosauridae
Subfamily:Hadrosaurinae
Genus:Hadrosaurus
Leidy, 1858
Species


H. foulkii Leidy, 1858 (type)
Hadrosaurus (Greek: ἁδρος, hadros + σαυρος, sauros = sturdy lizard) is a dubious genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur. In 1858, a skeleton of a dinosaur from this genus was the first full dinosaur skeleton found in North America and, in 1868, it became the first ever mounted dinosaur skeleton. Hadrosaurus foulkii is the only species in this genus and has been the official state dinosaur of New Jersey since 1991.

Description

Hadrosaurus lived near what is now the coast of New Jersey, U.S.A., in the late Cretaceous Period - around 80 million years ago. Most sources agree that it had a length of 7 meters to 10 meters (23 to 33 ft) and a weight of around 7 tonnes. It was likely bipedal for the purposes of running, but could use its forelegs to support itself while grazing - like all hadrosaurids, Hadrosaurus was herbivorous. Its teeth suggest it ate twigs and leaves.

Discovery

In 1838, William Estaugh Hopkins was digging in a marl pit (Hopkins Pond in Haddonfield, New Jersey) when he uncovered large bones. He had the bones on display at his home, Birdwood in Haddonfield, New Jersey. In 1858 these bones sparked the interest of a visitor, William Parker Foulke. The skeleton was dug out from the marl pit in 1858 by Foulke. In the same year, the species was named by paleontologist Joseph Leidy from an almost complete set of limbs, along with a pelvis, several part of the feet, twenty-eight vertebrae (including eighteen from the tail), eight teeth and two small parts of the jaw. Leidy recognized that these bones were from a dinosaur by their similarity to those of Iguanodon, discovered in England some decades before, but the skeleton of Hadrosaurus was far more complete. Leidy's monograph Cretaceous Reptiles of the United States, describing Hadrosaurus more completely and with illustrations, was written in 1860 but the American Civil War delayed its publication until 1865. Leidy reconstructed Hadrosaurus as a biped, in contrast to the view at the time that such dinosaurs were quadrupedal. The entire skeleton was completely assembled in 1868 by a team including English sculptor and naturalist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and was put on display at Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, where it remains available for public viewing.

Despite the fact that the family Hadrosauridae is named after this genus, there is no skull known. The skeleton is indistinguishable from that of other hadrosaurines, leading most scientists to consider it a nomen dubium, or dubious name. Many artists have, however, recreated Hadrosaurus with skulls from other, related species such as Gryposaurus and Brachylophosaurus.

A statue of Hadrosaurus, sculpted by Haddonfield resident John Giannotti, now stands in the center of the town of Haddonfield, commemorating its discovery there.

In popular culture

The character Glenda from Eric Garcia's novel Anonymous Rex is a hadrosaur.

In Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, Hadrosaurus is one of the dinosaurs that had been cloned by InGen.

External links

Late Cretaceous (100mya - 65mya) refers to the second half of the Cretaceous Period, named after the famous white chalk cliffs of southern England, which date from this time. Rocks deposited during the Late Cretaceous Period are referred to as the Upper Cretaceous Series.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Sauropsida*
Goodrich, 1916

Subclasses
  • Anapsida
  • Diapsida
Synonyms
  • Reptilia Laurenti, 1768
Reptiles are tetrapods and amniotes, animals whose embryos are surrounded by an amniotic membrane, and members of the class
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Dinosauria *
Owen, 1842

Orders & Suborders
  • Ornithischia
  • Cerapoda
  • Thyreophora
  • Saurischia

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Ornithischia
Seeley, 1888

Suborders
  • Cerapoda
  • Thyreophora


Ornithischia or Predentata is an order of beaked, herbivorous dinosaurs.
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Ornithopoda
Marsh, 1881

Families
  • Hypsilophodontidae*
  • Rhabdodontidae
  • Dryosauridae
  • Camptosauridae
  • Iguanodontidae
  • Hadrosauridae


Ornithopods
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Hadrosauridae
Cope, 1869

Subfamilies
  • Hadrosaurinae Cope, 1869
  • Lambeosaurinae Parks, 1923
Synonyms
  • Trachodontidae Lydekker, 1888
  • Saurolophidae Brown, 1914
  • Lambeosauridae Parks, 1923 vide Horner, 1990

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Hadrosauridae
Cope, 1869

Subfamilies
  • Hadrosaurinae Cope, 1869
  • Lambeosaurinae Parks, 1923
Synonyms
  • Trachodontidae Lydekker, 1888
  • Saurolophidae Brown, 1914
  • Lambeosauridae Parks, 1923 vide Horner, 1990

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Joseph Leidy (September 9 1823 – 30 April 1891) was an American paleontologist.

Leidy was professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, and later was a professor of natural history at Swarthmore College.
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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In biology, a type is that which fixes a name to a taxon. Depending on the nomenclature code which is applied to the organism in question, a type may be a specimen, culture, illustration, description or taxon.
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Ancient Greek refers to the second stage in the history of the Greek language[1] as it existed during the Archaic (9th–6th centuries BC) and Classical (5th–4th centuries BC) periods in Greece.
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In zoological nomenclature, a nomen dubium (Latin for "doubtful name", plural nomina dubia) is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Note that in the ICBN and ICNB the phrase "nomen dubium" has no status.
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genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
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Hadrosauridae
Cope, 1869

Subfamilies
  • Hadrosaurinae Cope, 1869
  • Lambeosaurinae Parks, 1923
Synonyms
  • Trachodontidae Lydekker, 1888
  • Saurolophidae Brown, 1914
  • Lambeosauridae Parks, 1923 vide Horner, 1990

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Dinosauria *
Owen, 1842

Orders & Suborders
  • Ornithischia
  • Cerapoda
  • Thyreophora
  • Saurischia

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skeleton or skeletal system is the biological system providing physical support in living organisms. (By extension, non-biological outline structures such as gantries or buildings may also acquire skeletons.
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North America is a continent [1] in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west
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This is a list of U.S. state dinosaurs in the United States, including the District of Columbia. A large number of states also have dinosaurs as state fossils, but this list only includes those that have been officially designated as "state dinosaurs".
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State of New Jersey

Flag of New Jersey Seal
Nickname(s): Garden State[1]
Motto(s): Liberty and prosperity

Official language(s) English de facto

Capital Trenton

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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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The Cretaceous Period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic Period (i.e. from 145.5 ± 4.0 million years ago (Ma)) to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary Period (about 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma).
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A geologic period is a subdivision of geologic time that divides an era into smaller timeframes. The equivalent term used to demarcate rock layers and the fossil record is the system; thus the rocks of the Devonian System were laid down during the Devonian Period.
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Annum is a Latin noun meaning year. It is the accusative singular of the second declension masculine noun annus (nominative), anni (genitive) [1] .

As a unit of time, it is defined as exactly 365.
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1 metre =
SI units
1000 mm 0 cm
US customary / Imperial units
0 ft 0 in
The metre or meter[1](symbol: m) is the fundamental unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).
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1 foot =
SI units
0 m 0 mm
US customary / Imperial units
0 yd 0 in
A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′
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tonne (t) or metric ton (M/T), also referred to as a metric tonne, is a measurement of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is not an SI unit but is accepted for use with the SI.
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Bipedalism is standing, or moving for example by walking, running, or hopping, on two appendages (typically legs). An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped (/'baɪ.
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This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
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