Dinosaurs A to Z
Hadrosauridae

Lambeosaurus lambeeuh-SƆːRUHS

Generic ornithopod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Lambeosaurus 7.7 m (25.3 ft) long
as long as 5 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ornithopod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Lambeosaurus
Length
7.7 m (25.3 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (76.47–74.44 Mya)
Place
North America · Alberta, Canada
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Hadrosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Cerapoda Ornithopoda Iguanodontia Duck-billed dinosaurs with tooth batteries.
Lambeosaurus reconstruction by Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com)
Reconstruction · Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com) (CC-BY)

Lambeosaurus ( ) is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period of western North America. The first skull of Lambeosaurus found was used by palaeontologist Lawrence M. Lambe to justify the creation of the new genus Stephanosaurus, although it was not part of the latter’s original material. Its incomplete nature led William A. Parks to name Lambeosaurus lambei for this skull in 1923 to honour Lambe. Multiple species of Lambeosaurus have been named since, including L. clavinitialis and L. magnicristatus in 1935, and L. laticaudus in 1981 which was later moved to its own genus Magnapaulia. It has also been identified that some species earlier identified as belonging to Tetragonosaurus and Corythosaurus are now considered juveniles of Lambeosaurus. It is the eponymous member of the subfamily Lambeosaurinae and tribe Lambeosaurini.

What we know

  • Named by Parks, 1923.
  • Body length estimated at about 7.7 m.
  • Fossils found in North America and Alberta, Canada.

What we guess

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