Brachylophosaurus
| Brachylophosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
| The mummified specimen "Leonardo" in The Children's Museum of Indianapolis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
| Family: | †Hadrosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Saurolophinae |
| Tribe: | †Brachylophosaurini |
| Genus: | †Brachylophosaurus Sternberg, 1953 |
| Type species | |
| †Brachylophosaurus canadensis Sternberg, 1953 | |
| Synonyms | |
Brachylophosaurus (/brəˌkɪləfəˈsɔːrəs/ brə-KIL-ə-fə-SOR-əs or /ˌbrækiˌloʊfəˈsɔːrəs/ brak-i-LOH-fə-SOR-əs) is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period of western North America. It was first named in 1953 by Charles Mortram Sternberg for a skull and skeleton he discovered in 1936 in the Oldman Formation of Alberta, Canada, for which he named the new taxon Brachylophosaurus canadensis. While this single specimen was the only known material of Brachylophosaurus for a long time, extensive discoveries in the Judith River Formation of Montana, USA have uncovered not only additional skulls and skeletons with extensive impressions of skin, but also a bonebed of 800 specimens. The earliest of these discoveries in Montana was named Brachylophosaurus goodwini by John R. Horner, but it is now believed that there was only a single species of Brachylophosaurus, with B. goodwini as either a junior synonym of B. canadensis or an indeterminate member of Brachylophosaurini.
It is known from several skeletons and bonebed material from the Judith River Formation of Montana and the Oldman Formation of Alberta, living about 78.5-77.6 million years ago.