Barsboldia
"for Barsbold"
Type species Barsboldia sicinskii
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ornithopods, Hadrosauridae
- Found in
- Mongolia
- Named by
- Maryanska and Osmólska 1981
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Habitat
Wooded floodplains crossed by winding rivers in the Nemegt Formation. Saurolophus, Tarbosaurus and Deinocheirus lived in the same region.
Field notes
About Barsboldia
What it was like
Barsboldia was a large duck-billed dinosaur known from part of a backbone, part of the hips and some ribs. The spines of its backbones were tall, which would have given its back and tail a high ridge.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Mongolia. Its bones come from the Nemegt Formation, where it shared the land with the duck-billed Saurolophus, the giant clawed Therizinosaurus, the hump-backed Deinocheirus and the tyrannosaur Tarbosaurus.
How it was found
Maryanska and Osmólska named Barsboldia in 1981, after a Mongolian paleontologist. Because it is known from so little, its exact place among the hadrosaurs is still unclear.
Field gallery
More views of Barsboldia
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Barsboldia.
The evidence
The science behind Barsboldia
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Parts of the backbone, hips, ribs and a hind leg are known.
- Exceptionally tall bony spines rise above the back and hips, with club-shaped tips over the hips.
- The shallow hip blade and tall spines distinguish it from Saurolophus.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing head is restored with a broad muzzle like Edmontosaurus.
- Edmontosaurus also guides the shape of the missing forelimbs and compact supporting hands.
Still unknown
- The shape of its head and any crest.
- The fleshy outline of the high ridge over its back and hips.
- Its skin texture and color.
Often drawn wrong
- A low, flat back leaves out its unusually tall bony spines.
- A hollow head crest like that of Parasaurolophus is speculative.
Discovery timeline
- 1981Named itMaryanska & Osmólska
- 2017Close relativeXing, Mallon & Currie
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Barsboldia
Named it
Named a duck-billed dinosaur from a partial skeleton with unusually tall spines along its backbone.
First lambeosaurine dinosaur from the Nemegt Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Mongolia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 26: 243-255
No link available
Close relative
Described Edmontosaurus skulls in detail, providing a comparison for the missing head of Barsboldia.
Supplementary cranial description of the types of Edmontosaurus regalis (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae), with comments on the phylogenetics and biogeography of Hadrosaurinae. PLOS ONE 12: e0175253
Read the paper : Supplementary cranial description of the types of Edmontosaurus regalis (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae), with comments on the phylogenetics and biogeography of Hadrosaurinae (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Hadrosauridae
Sources: Wikidata