Barsboldia (named for Mongolian paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold in 1981) is a Lambeosaurine hadrosaur from the early Maastrichtian Nemegt Formation of Ömnogöv', Mongolia. It is known from a partial vertebral column, partial pelvis, and some ribs. It was about 32.8 feet (10 meters) in length, 13 feet in height, and weighed about as much as a rhinoceros. Known from only the rear half of a skeleton.
Description[]
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Restoration
Teresa Maryańska and Halszka Osmólska based this genus on ZPAL MgD-1/110, a partial skeleton consisting of nine back vertebrae, nine hip vertebrae, fifteen tail vertebrae, a left ilium, parts of the left and right pubis, several ribs, and a few fragments of the hind limbs, with the backbone largely articulated. The most distinctive features of this skeleton are found in the neural spines. These are very tall, particularly over the hips, and were described as second only to those of Hypacrosaurus altispinus and the tips of those found in the first few vertebrae of the tail are club-shaped (possibly a sign of old age).
Phylogeny[]
Maryańska and Osmólska described their new genus as a lambeosaurine (or hollow-crested duckbill), the first from the Nemegt Formation, although it lacked a skull. However, the sacrum has a keel along the bottom, a possible lambeosaurine feature, and the bones closely resemble those of Hypacrosaurus. With only one partial skeleton known, and no skull, the genus has been considered dubious or a possible lambeosaurine of uncertain placement. A newer study published in 2011 suggests that Barsboldia is actually a valid saurolophine.
The following cladogram was recovered in the 2011 phylogenetic analysis of Hadrosauroidea by Prieto-Márquez (the relationships within Lambeosaurinae and between basal hadrosauroids aren't shown).
Caudal vertebrae
Vertebrae
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Paleobiology[]
As a hadrosaurid, Barsboldia would have been a bipedal/quadrupedal herbivore, eating plants with a sophisticated skull that permitted a grinding motion analogous to chewing, and was furnished with hundreds of continually-replaced teeth. If it was a lambeosaurine, it would have had a hollow crest formed out of expanded skull bones containing the nasal passages, with a function relating to identification by sight and sound.
JPInstitute.com Description[]
Barsboldia was a large, plant-eating duck-billed dinosaur that lived in Asia. This is the only member of this dinosaur family known from Asia. The huge size of this duckbill indicates that the Gobi Desert was once a much different environment with lots of plants and water.
Some scientists don't consider Barsboldia to be a valid genus. They argue that the distinction between this specimen and Hypacrosaurus are age related and not indicative of a new genus.