''Koreanosaurus'' () is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

orodromine Orodrominae is a subfamily of thescelosaurid dinosaurs known from the Cretaceous of North America and Asia. Distribution Orodromines were a mostly North American based group with fossils from Canada and United States only. ''Albertadromeus'', as ...

neornithischia Neornithischia ("new ornithischians") is a clade of the dinosaur order Ornithischia. It is the sister group of the Thyreophora within the clade Genasauria. Neornithischians are united by having a thicker layer of asymmetrical enamel on the inside ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

. One species has been described, ''Koreanosaurus boseongensis''.

Discovery

Skeletal diagram of Koreanosaurus boseongensis

In 2003, three specimens of ''Koreanosaurus'' were found in the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

-age Seonso Conglomerate from the southern coast of the Bibong-ri dinosaur egg site,

Boseong Boseong County (''Boseong-gun'') is a county in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. Boseong is famous for its green tea leaves, with 26.71 hectares of land dedicated to its production. It is also the birthplace of the Korean independence activ ...

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. These specimens include the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

KDRC-BB2, a partial upper skeleton lacking the skull, and two additional specimens which contains portions of the pelvic girdle and lower leg (KDRC-BB1 and KDRC-BB3). The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

was named after its locality (

site 5). This taxon was initially named and described in a

master's thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

by Dae-Gil Lee in 2008, and was officially published by Min Huh, Dae-Gil Lee, Jung-Kyun Kim, Jong-Deock Lim and

Pascal Godefroit Pascal Godefroit is a Belgian paleontologist. He discovered dinosaurs like ''Olorotitan'' in 2003. Godefroit is the director of earth and life sciences at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences The Museum of Natural Sciences of Belgium ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Description

''Koreanosaurus'' was a relatively small dinosaur, reaching in body length. Based on its taxonomic position and the existence of small burrows from the Seonso Conglomerate, ''Koreanosaurus'' is likely a burrowing dinosaur. Unlike its

relatives, ''Koreanosaurus'' is assumed to have been a

quadruped Quadrupedalism is a form of locomotion where four limbs are used to bear weight and move around. An animal or machine that usually maintains a four-legged posture and moves using all four limbs is said to be a quadruped (from Latin ''quattuor' ...

Classification

''Koreanosaurus'' was considered to be a basal member of the

Ornithopoda Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (), that started out as small, bipedal running grazers and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world ...

by the authors, forming a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

with ''

Zephyrosaurus ''Zephyrosaurus'' (meaning "westward wind lizard") is a genus of orodromine ornithischian dinosaur. It is based on a partial skull and postcranial fragments discovered in the Aptian-Albian-age Lower Cretaceous Cloverly Formation of Carbon County ...

schaffi'', ''

Orodromeus ''Orodromeus'' (meaning "Mountain Runner") is a genus of herbivorous orodromine thescelosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Only one species is known, the type species ''Orodromeus makelai''. Discovery and naming The rem ...

makelai'' and ''

Oryctodromeus ''Oryctodromeus'' (meaning "digging runner") was a genus of small orodromine thescelosaurid dinosaur. Fossils are known from the Late Cretaceous Blackleaf Formation of southwestern Montana and the Wayan Formation of southeastern Idaho, USA, bot ...

cubicularis'' from which they deduced a burrowing lifestyle. Han ''et al.'' found it plausible that ''Koreanosaurus'' might be a member of

Jeholosauridae Jeholosaurids were herbivorous neornithischian dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period (Aptian - Cenomanian). The family was first proposed by Han ''et al.'' in 2012. The jeholosaurids were defined as all neornithischians more closely related to ''J ...

or closely related to it.

References

Ornithischian genera Campanian life Santonian life Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia Fossil taxa described in 2011 {{ornithischian-stub