The generic name derives from a combination of the Augustyn family, who helped support the Los Angeles County Museum, and the suffix "-lophus," meaning crest, a reference to its relative Saurolophus. The specific name refers to palaeontologist William Morris.[3] It was originally described as a species of Saurolophus, S. morrisi.[4][5] However, when a more in-depth study took place, the end results revealed that its cranial structure was vastly different when it was juxtaposed with the other known members of the tribe Saurolophini, most notably Saurolophus osborni[6][7][8] and Saurolophus angustirostris[9][10] and Prosaurolophus maximus[11] and therefore, it was determined to be a separate genus.
All known specimens of Augustynolophus have been found only in California, which was a part of Laramidia, among the best locations for dinosaur fossils.[12] There are currently two known specimens of Augustynolophus. The holotype, LACM/CIT 2852, was unearthed in 1943. It consisted of the majority of the skull (including the dentary and predentary), vertebrae, and bones of the limb and hand. The second specimen was designated LACM/CIT 2760. Discovered in 1939, it was made up of elements of the skull and limbs. Due to its smaller size, it may have been a juvenile.[5][13] It is one of three named dinosaurs from the western coast of the United States, the other two being the CampanianAletopelta coombsi,[14] and the sea bird Ichthyornis.[15] Additionally there are a number of fragmentary remains which have been found of dinosaurs in all of the western coastal states, California, Oregon, and Washington. In addition to a tyrannosaur from Sucia Island of Washington, [16][17] fragmentary remains of indeterminate hadrosaurs and ornithopods have been found throughout California as far back as the 1930s and more recently Oregon as well.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]
In September 2017, Augustynolophus was declared the official state dinosaur of California.[27]
Augustynolophus was a large hadrosaur, reaching 8 metres (26 ft) in length and 3 metric tons (3.3 short tons) in body mass.[28] Like all species of hadrosaur, Augustynolophus morrisi was a herbivorous dinosaur which had a diet consisting of the plant life in the area, it was specialized to chew its food since hadrosaurs were one of the few known species of dinosaur that chewed its food.[29]
Paleoecology
Facial and mandibular elements
Very is little is known about the fauna found in the coastal states of Laramida,[30] which is a stark similarity to the neighboring island continent of Appalachia which was on the opposite side of the Western Interior Seaway. The western United States has a rich history of rich fossil finds, most notable examples include the Hell Creek Formation and the Two Medicine Formation.[31] However, like with Appalachia, the land fauna of western Laramidia, most notably the dinosaurs, is not well studied and are not well known.
However, despite the fact that dinosaur fossils are rare in California, the Moreno Formation is one of the more well studied Mesozoic geological formations in California and like Appalachia, it is more well known for the large amount of marine fossils.[32][33][34][35]Augustynolophus shared its environment with a wide variety of marine creatures which consisted of non-marine turtles, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs and ray-finned fish.[36] The turtles that lived in this region included Basilemys and Osteopygis.[37] Mosasaurs were very common in this region and 4 species have been unearthed from this fossil formation. They include Prognathodon, Halisaurus, Plesiotylosaurus, and Plotosaurus.[38] Plesiosaurs that inhabited the Moreno Formation consisted of 4 genera: Frensosaurus, Morenosaurus, Aphrosaurus, and Hydrotherosaurus.[39][40][21]Bonnerichthys and Saurodon were the only ray-finned fish found here.[41]
^Sues, H.D.; Bell, P.R.; Evans, D.C. (2010). "Revision of the status of Saurolophus (Hadrosauridae) from California, USA". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 47 (11): 1417–1426. Bibcode:2010CaJES..47.1417S. doi:10.1139/e10-062.
^Lehman, T.M. (1987). "Late Maastrichtian paleoenvironments and dinosaur biogeography in the western interior of North America". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 60: 189–217. Bibcode:1987PPP....60..189L. doi:10.1016/0031-0182(87)90032-0.
^Prieto-Márquez, Albert; Wagner, Jonathan R.; Bell, Phil R.; Chiappe, Luis M. (2014). "The late-surviving 'duck-billed' dinosaur Augustynolophus from the upper Maastrichtian of western North America and crest evolution in Saurolophini". Geological Magazine. 152 (2): 225–241. Bibcode:2015GeoM..152..225P. doi:10.1017/S0016756814000284. S2CID131049979.
^Morris, W.J. (1982). "California dinosaurs". In Bottjer, DJ; Colburn, IP; Cooper, JD (eds.). Late Cretaceous Depositional Environments and Paleogeography, Santa Ana Mountains, Southern California. Los Angeles: Pacific Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists.
^Brown, B. (1912). "A crested dinosaur from the Edmonton Cretaceous". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History: 131–136. ((cite journal)): Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^Brown, B. (1913). "The skeleton of Saurolophus, a crestedduck-billed dinosaur from the Edmonton Cretaceous". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 32: 387–393.
^Bell, P.R. (February 2011). "Redescription of the skull of Saurolophus osborni Brown 1912 (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae)". Cretaceous Research. 32 (1): 30–44. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2010.10.002.
^Strommer, Kristin (July 14, 2021). "UO-led team uncovers new pieces of Oregon's dinosaur puzzle". University of Oregon. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
^Taylor, David G.; Lucas, Spencer G. (2018). "A Late Cretaceous (Campanian) hadrosaur sacrum from the Cape Sebastian Sandstone, Curry County, Oregon". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 79: 695–702.
^Ford, K.W. (2006). "Stratigraphic positions of marine reptile and dinosaur specimens in the Moreno Formation, in the Tumey Hills and Panoche Hills, Fresno County, California". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 35: 407–410.
^Popenoe, W.P. (1973). "Southern California Cretaceous formations and faunas with especial reference to the Simi Hills and Santa Monica Mountains". Cretaceous Stratigraphy of the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills, Southern California. Pacific Section, SEPM, Geological Guidebook, Los Angeles, California: 15–20.
^Reeside, J.B. (1957). "Paleoecology of the Cretaceous seas of the Western Interior of the United States". Geological Society of America Memoirs. 67: 505–542. doi:10.1130/MEM67V2-p505.
