lambeosaurines

Lambeosaurines are a subfamily of hadrosaurs, a group of duck-billed, herbivorous dinosaurs. They are best known for their distinctive cranial crests, which are hollow and formed by the bones of the skull and nasal passages. The crests vary widely in shape among genera, ranging from tube-like and hats to elaborate, looping structures. This variation is thought to reflect species differences and may have played a role in display and acoustic communication.

Geographically and temporally, lambeosaurines lived during much of the Late Cretaceous. Their fossils are most abundant in North America and Asia, with several genera representing different regions and time intervals. They persisted until the end of the Cretaceous, when the mass extinction event that ended the era affected all hadrosaurs.

Within the group, well-known genera include Lambeosaurus from western North America, Corythosaurus from Canada and the United States, Parasaurolophus from North America, Hypacrosaurus from North America, and Amurosaurus from the Amur region of Russia. These dinosaurs shared the characteristic dental battery of hadrosaurs, consisting of tightly packed, continually growing teeth suited to grinding vegetation. They possessed beaks and cheeks that aided in cropping plant material, enabling efficient processing of a high-fiber diet.

Lambeosaurines represent one of the two major hadrosaurid subfamilies, the other being hadrosaurines. Their distinctive crests, diverse forms, and widespread Late Cretaceous distribution contribute to our understanding of hadrosaurid evolution, paleoecology, and dinosaur diversity just before the end-Cretaceous extinction.