STL Science Center

STL Science Center

04 June 2013

Fukuisaurus Described

Only one large scale paper has actually been written about Fukuisaurus. Perhaps the minimal material, though there is some more material now than there was when initially described, has led to the lack of published research concerning Fukuisaurus. That paper, unfortunately, is published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology; meaning that without a subscription it is virtually unreadable in its entirety. If you have a subscription or would like to buy the article it can be found here. If you do not have a subscription or wish to buy the article, you do not have to, of course. Remember that the description of the genus was conducted with only two bones of the skull; a right maxilla and jugal. Since that time, when it was described as a "non-hadrosaurid iguanodontian", more skull material has been collected and the lack of kinetic movement in the skull through fusion and other characters in a cladistic analysis (no published version of this information appears to be available) showed it to actually be a basal hadrosaur. The fact that this information is not known to be published means it may be someone's research that is still in progress or an as yet peer reviewed study that has assigned it. Hopefully a reference to this assertion will be found at some point and it will not continue on as hearsay one way or another.

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