Buccal soft anatomy in Lesothosaurus

[jigruiz@unizar.es]

recently published!

KNOLL, F. (2008): Buccal soft anatomy in Lesothosaurus (Dinosauria:  
Ornithischia). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie -  
Abhandlungen, Volume 248, Number 3, June 2008, 355?364; Stuttgart.

Abstract: The probable buccal soft anatomy of the basal ornithopod  
Lesothosaurus, from the Early Jurassic of southern Africa, is  
appraised. A labial emargination does not establish the existence of a  
malar structure because such a configuration is present in a number of  
extant lizards, but generally absent in mammals. Judging from the  
condition in lizards, the pattern of labial foramination is not  
reliable evidence of the presence of cheeks either. The perioral hard  
anatomy of Lesothosaurus does not offer any conclusive support for the  
presence of cheeks or mammalian style lips. Lesothosaurus very  
probably bore both an upper and a lower horny beak of very limited  
caudal extent, based on the vascularized and roughened surface texture  
of the rostral extremities of the jaws.

Key words: Ornithischia, Dinosauria, cheeks, lips, beak, anatomy.

---------------------------------
And in the same issue:

Jun, Chen; Butler, Richard J.; Liyong, Jin. 2008. New material of  
large-bodied ornithischian dinosaurs, including an iguanodontian  
ornithopod, from the Quantou Formation (middle Cretaceous:  
Aptian-Cenomanian) of Jilin Province, northeastern China. Neues  
Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen, Volume 248,  
Number 3, June 2008 , pp. 309-314(6)

 The Quantou Formation of Jilin Province, Northeast China, has  
recently yielded an important new middle Cretaceous  
(Aptian-Cenomanian) fauna of terrestrial vertebrates, including  
zalambdalestid mammals, basal ornithopod dinosaurs and basal  
ceratopsian dinosaurs. Here we describe well-preserved but isolated  
and fragmentary material of large-bodied ornithischian dinosaurs from  
this formation. An isolated humerus represents an iguanodontian  
ornithopod dinosaur, expanding the known stratigraphic and geographic  
range of this group within China. Other material (partial distal  
tibia, series of three dorsal vertebrae apparently representing part  
of a fused synsacrum) can only be assigned to Ornithischia indet.

Keywords: ANKYLOSAURIA; CHINA; CRETACEOUS; IGUANODONTIA; ORNITHISCHIA;  
ORNITHOPODA; QUANTOU FORMATION