Saturday, February 01, 2020

Iguanodont-Hadrosaur Transition





The larger or more robust iguanodonts, such as I. bernassartensis and Lurdusaurus, apparently evolved to fight predators instead of flee from them.The  thumb spikes of iguanodonts apparently served as weapons for stabbing theropods. When under attack,  Iguanodon may have attempted to gouge out an attacker's eyes or damage its jaw. 
This defense does not appear to have been  effective for very long. Ouranosaurus had small thumb spikes suggesting decreased reliance on such weapons. The spikes may have been vestigial or at the point of being abandoned. The subsequent history of large ornithopods certainly suggests failure of their fighting taxa. Lacking any weapons, hadrosaurs relied on speed to escape, and keen senses to warn of approaching danger.
The iguanodontian defense seems to have disappeared in late Aptian or Albian time. Around then, and at the start of the late Cretaceous (Cenomanian), carcharodontosaurs became very large. Earlier carchs such as Concavenator were considerably smaller. Against them, iguanodonts had a fighting chance. Later carchs, however, such as Tyrannotitan and Acrocanthosaurus, would've overwhelmed the ornithopods and probably did. The shark toothed giants evolved to prey on large sauropods and could easily overcome an iguanodont. Even Eocarcharia appears at the threshold of eclipsing iguanodonts, as Lurdusaurus was supplanted by the less combative, fleeing Ouranosaurus.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Neal Eugene Robbins said...


The emergence of more powerful predators must have been a factor. During the Cretaceous, carnivores were extremely formidable. Carcharodontosaurids and tyrannosaurs made things very unsafe for herbivores. Hadrosaurs had speed, which was an extreme necessity. Going into water was not necessarily a safe option, since crocodyliforms were sometimes present in rivers, lakes, and ponds.

7:37 AM  
Blogger starman said...

I don't think crocodilians usually were a serious threat in the Cretaceous. Sarcosuchus was piscivorous, and Nemegt crocs were small and rare. Of course Deinosuchus was dangerous but that situation was not typical in the Mesozoic. Ornithopods were terrestrial not aquatic hence evolved to flee on land like modern antelope. Tyrannosaur(oid)s became adapted to chase them, whereas carcharodontosaurs battled prey which attempted to stand its ground like sauropods and iguanodonts. The former were big enough to do so whereas iguanodonts were not.


February 2, 2020

2:19 AM  
Anonymous Neal Eugene Robbins said...


Sauropods would have been more difficult prey; a major reason was their size. It would have been more feasible for two or more meat eating theropods to bring down an adult sauropod than for one to do so. Carnivorous theropods could more easily go after iguanodonts one on one.

6:39 AM  
Blogger starman said...

I think Lurdusaurus represented the acme of iguanodontian defensive evolution. But (packs of?) Eocarcharia made life difficult for the fighting ornithopod, so the fleeing Ouranosaurus was more successful. This occurred worldwide so hadrosaurs replaced iguanodonts.

February 3, 2020

1:50 AM  
Blogger Emmanuel Ansu said...

Very interesting story.

12:24 PM  
Blogger Makayo said...

I never thought about this before but it makes sense now, iguanodonts were only initially successful because of their coeval predators being on the smaller side of their family.

10:09 PM  
Blogger starman said...

Good to see you finally here Makayo. :) Like all scientific notions, this one is falsifiable. It predicts that iguandonts lasted as long as carchs were relatively small, say 7-8m max, and disappeared with the advent of larger taxa in the Aptian or Alban. If a very large carcharodontosaur is found in strata yielding a robust, spiked iguanodont, that may undermine the idea--unless the stratigraphic range of the iguanodont ended at the same horizon the big carch appeared. If the ranges overlap for a lengthy period it would suggest iguanodonts could cope with carchs no matter how large and their demise was due to some other factor.
It is also possible, though, that the key factor wasn't size but pack hunting ability. Naturally that idea would be much harder to test.

February 8, 2020

1:37 AM  
Blogger starman said...

Fell free to comment on any other blogs too. :)

February 8, 2020

1:40 AM  

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