Dinosaurs A to Z
Hadrosauridae

Charonosaurus kuh-rohnuh-SƆːRUHS

"Charon"

Generic ornithopod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Charonosaurus 10 m (33 ft) long
as long as 6 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ornithopod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Charonosaurus
Length
10 m (33 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (66 Mya)
Place
China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Hadrosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Cerapoda Ornithopoda Iguanodontia Duck-billed dinosaurs with tooth batteries.

Charonosaurus ( ; meaning “Charon’s lizard”) is a genus of lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur similar to Parasaurolophus that lived in the latest Cretaceous Yuliangze Formation of China. Its fossils were described by Godefroit, Zan, and Jin in 2000, on the south bank of the Amur River, dividing China from Russia. It is monotypic, consisting of the species, C. jiayinensis.

What we know

  • Named by Godefroit, Zan & Jin, 2000.
  • Body length estimated at about 10 m.
  • Fossils found in China.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Charonosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.