Welcome to Albalophosaurus
Name Definition
White crested lizard
Name Given By
T. Ohashi and P. M. Barrett in 2009
Location
Kuwajima Formation in central Japan
Classification
Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Cerapoda, Marginocephalia, Ceratopsia
Size
approximately 1 meter tall, around 2 meters long
Temporal Range
Valanginian - Hauterivian stages of the Early Cretaceous, ~140 - 130 million years ago
Ecological niche
small herbivore
Species/Sub Species
A. yamaguchiorum
Diet
due to its similar dental morphology compared to that of ornithopods, Albalophosaurus probably chewed tough plant material as well as fruits
Introduction
Albalophosaurus is a genus of ceratopsian dinosaurs that lived in Japan during the Early Cretaceous. Albalophosaurus means “White crested lizard” which is not a physical feature but is in reference to Mount Hakusan near where it was discovered since the mountain is snow capped. Albalophosaurus is one of the more basal ceratopsians with no ceratopsian family having been assigned to it yet, but what is really interesting is the similarity it displays with ornithopods. This might be one of the more important finds, as it shows how ceratopsians came to be in the late Cretaceous as some of the most abundant herbivores. However, because of this, the original description authors do not consider Albalophosaurus as a true ceratopsian. Then, in 2012, Han and colleagues recovered Albalophosaurus as a marginocephalian more derived than others including Micropachycephalosaurus and Chaoyangosaurus, but is more basal compared to Psittacosaurus. Another reason why Albalophosaurus is a more significant find is because it is a Japanese dinosaur. Funnily enough, hundreds of dinosaurs are being discovered on mainland Asia like in China, Mongolia, and even India, but Japan is always coming in short of dinosaur fossils, though that doesn’t mean there are still some Japanese dinosaurs, and some examples include the megaraptoran Fukuiraptor as well as the giant titanosaurian Fukuititan.