Acrylics and Inks on cardboard. Cover for Dino Press
(Japan).
Charonosaurus, a newly described Chinese lambeosaurine hadrosaur is
named after Charon, the ferryman of the River Styx in Greco-Roman mythology, who
carried the souls of the dead across the river to their destiny in
Hades.
Exactly why the authors of the paper choose this name is not made
clear; probably it is because the type skull was found in a bone bed on the
southern bank of the river Heilongjiang, China.
It was a very large
lambeosaurid; at least one femur 135 cm long is known, suggesting a
snout-to-tail length of 13 meters or more: longer than a large individual of
Tyrannosaurus rex and at least half the size bigger than Parasaurolophus, its
closest relative from North America on the other side of the world. The only
other lambeosaurid at least that large is Lambeosaurus laticaudus from Baja
California, Mexico, and the only larger hadrosaurian is China's Shantungosaurus
giganteus, a hadrosaurid that may have attained a length of 15 meters. A large
adult Charonosaurus would have weighed 7 or more metric tons. The long, strong
forelimbs imply that it was a powerful animal and it was habitually quadruped,
but like other lambeosaurids it probably could walk and run on just its much
more more powerful hind limbs when necessary. The fact that it has been found in
bone beds comprising individuals of several sizes indicates that these
lambeosaurids lived and died in extended family groups or herds, behaviour
already well documented among North American hadrosaurians. Although little is
known of the cranial crest, the shapes of the skull bones show the crest looked
much like the known crests of the North American lambeosaurid Parasaurolophus,
the bones of whose snout formed a hollow tube that extended backward well above
and beyond the back of the skull. Perhaps the crest was even longer and broader
than in Parasaurolophus, which would have given Charonosaurus the most fantastic
looks and allow it a deeper, more powerful trumpeting bellow that would have
travelled for miles, keeping communication with members of the herd and
attracting mates! With special thanks to George Olshevsky.
