中国甘肃发现世界上最大牙齿的植食性恐龙:巨齿兰州龙(新属、新种)

巨齿兰州龙（新属、新种）是发现于中国甘肃省兰州盆地早白垩世地层中的一新鸟脚类恐龙，其牙齿是世界上已知植食性恐龙中最大的。兰州龙下颌长1m，每侧有14个齿槽，而单个牙齿宽约4cm，这是已知恐龙中的首次报道。分支系统学分析发现巨齿兰州龙与非洲早白垩世Lurdusaurus arenatus关系密切。它们代表了鸟脚类恐龙进化中四足行走的笨重的一新支。兰州龙的发现也表明欧亚大陆与非洲在早白垩世具有较密切的联系。

Lanzhousaurus magnidens gen. Et sp. Nov. From Gansu Province, China: the largest-toothed herbivorous dinosaur in the world

A new ornithopod dinosaur, Lanzhousaurus magnidens gen. et sp. nov., from the Early Cretaceous of the Lanzhou Basin, Gansu Province, China, possesses the largest teeth of any herbivorous dinosaur yet discovered. The dental morphology of Lanzhousaurus, in which only 14, ～4 cm-wide tooth families are preserved in the tooth row of the 1 m long lower jaw,augments the known morphological diversity of dinosaurs. Cladistic analysis recovers a close relationship between L. magnidens and Lurdusaurus arenatus from the Early Cretaceous of Africa. Together, these species represent a previously unrecognized,massively-constructed quadrupedal lineage in the evolution of ornithopod dinosaurs. This discovery also implies a close connection between Eurasia and Africa during the Early Cretaceous.