Parasaurolophus

Name: Parasaurolophus ‭(‬Near Saurolophus/Near lizard crest‭)‬. Phonetic: Pah-rah-sore-o-loe-fus. Named By: William Parks‭ ‬-‭ ‬1922. Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Hadrosauridae,‭ ‬Lambeosaurinae. Species: P.‭ ‬walkeri‭ (‬type‭)‬,‭ ‬P.‭ ‬tubicen,‭ ‬P.‭ ‬cyrtocristatus. Diet: Herbivore. Size: About 9.5 meters long for larger individuals. Known locations: Canada‭ ‬-‭ ‬Alberta‭ ‬-‭ ‬Dinosaur Park Formation.‭ ‬USA‭ ‬-‭ ‬New Mexico‭ ‬-‭ ‬Kirtland Formation,‭ ‬possibly also Fruitland Formation,‭ ‬Utah‭ ‬-‭ ‬Kaiparowits Formation. Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous. Fossil representation: Several skulls and partial skeletons of varying levels of completeness.

Out of all the hadrosaurs‭ (‬also known as the duck-billed dinosaurs‭) ‬Parasaurolophus is one of the most‭ ‬widely recognised thanks‭ ‬to its very distinctive skull crest.‭ ‬The name Parasaurolophus is a bit of a mouthful,‭ ‬but this is based around the early interpretation that Parasaurolophus was similar to another genus names  Saurolophus‭  (‬which means‭ ‘‬lizard crest‭) ‬because Saurolophus also has a skull crest,‭ ‬though not as large or as ornate as Parasaurolophus.‭ ‬However under modern systematics,‭ ‬Parasaurolophus is classed as a lambeosaurine hadrosaurid because of the hollow crest,‭ ‬whereas Saurolophus is the type genus of the Saurolophinae‭ (‬previously Hadrosaurinae‭) ‬a sister group of hadrosaurids noted for having solid to no crests at all.‭ This means that Parasaurolophus and Saurolophus are in fact distantly related,‭ ‬but both are still called hadrosaurids because they both belong within the Hadrosauridae.‭ ‬Instead Parasaurolophus is more closely related to other lambeosaurines such as  Hypacrosaurus ,‭  ‬Corythosaurus  and of course the type genus of the group,‭  ‬Lambeosaurus .‭ ‬Out of all lambeosaurines however,‭ ‬it is the Asian genus  Charonosaurus  that is thought to be one of the closest relatives of Parasaurolophus due to the strikingly similar head crest.