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Eolambia was a genus of large, herbivorous dinosaur that was closely related to the duck-billed hadrosaurs, although despite initial classifications, it is not considered to be a direct member of the group. It was large for its family, at around six metres (twenty feet) and is also considered to be quite advanced. Like all members of its family, it was a herbivore. It contains a single species, E. caroljonesa, named by paleontologist James Kirkland in 1998. The type specimen of Eolambia was discovered by Carole and Ramal Jones in 1993; the species name honors Carole. Since then, hundreds of bones have been discovered from both adults and juveniles, representing nearly every element of the skeleton. All of the specimens have thus far been found in Emery County, Utah, in a layer of rock known as the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation. Eolambia would have lived in a forested environment at the edge of lakes in a humid floodplain environment, feeding on gymnosperms, ferns, and flowering plants. The water levels in the lakes changed over time with cyclical wet and dry spells caused by the precession of the Earth, reflected by alternating bands in the sediments of the Mussentuchit Member. As a juvenile, Eolambia would have been preyed upon by large crocodylomorphs residing in the lake waters. With increasing age, however, they became impervious to the crocodylomorphs, and mature individuals (at least eight to nine years in age) were preyed on by large theropods such as the neovenatorid Siats.

History of discovery[]

James Ian Kirkland describes Eolambia caroljonesa as a new genus and species from the Cedar Mountain Formation of Mussentuchit, Emery County, Utah, USA. He had to change the specific epithet of E caroljonesae to match the feminine of the generic name. It is also listed as E. caroljonesi in Kirkland's article on the Cedar Mountain Formation in Currie and Padian's Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs before it was officially published. It was originally thought to be the oldest known hadrosaurid, an honour that belongs to Protohadros ; it was originally to be named "Eohadrosaurus caroljonesi" before its supposed affinity with Lambeosaurinae was clear, but more recent work suggests it is a more basal iguanodontid. Several individuals are known, and their remains show most of the skeleton.

Etymology[]

Its name comes from the Greek eos/ηως meaning "dawn" and the suffix Lambi also used in Lambeosaurus is in honor of Lawrence Lambe, a Canadian paleontologist.

Description[]

Eolambia was a large ornithopod, measuring up to 9 metres long, 4 metres high and weighing 4 tonnes. The skull may have been up to 1.00 metres long.

JPInstitute.com Description[]

Eolambia is the oldest known member of the family of duck-billed dinosaurs that we call lambeosaurs, and many believe it is also the earliest duck-billed dinosaur, which are also called hadrosaurs. Named in 1997 by Dr. James Kirkland, a Jurassic Park Institute scientist, it is a fairly recent discovery. Finding these type of early dinosaurs provide scientists with many clues about the evolution of dinosaurs. Since the duck-bills were the most abundant plant-eaters of the late Cretaceous, learning more about their ancestry and how they evolved is an important part of understanding the prehistoric world.

Links[]

https://web.archive.org/web/20040214170653fw_/http://www.jpinstitute.com/dinopedia/dinocards/dc_eolam.html

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