page_title: Tsintaosaurus
section_title: Other distinctive traits
hierarchical_section_title: Tsintaosaurus / Description / Other distinctive traits
context_page_description: Tsintaosaurus is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur from China. It was about 8.3 metres long and weighed 2.5 tonnes. The type species is Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus, first described by Chinese paleontologist C. C. Young in 1958.
  A hadrosaur, Tsintaosaurus had a characteristic 'duck bill' snout and a battery of powerful teeth which it used to chew vegetation. It usually walked on all fours, but could rear up on its hind legs to scout for predators and flee when it spotted one. Like other hadrosaurs, Tsintaosaurus probably lived in herds.
context_section_description: Apart from the crest, Prieto-Márquez and Wagner identified several other distinctive traits (autapomorphies) of Tsintaosaurus. The rim of the upper beak is rounded and thick, wider than the transverse width of the front depression around the nostrils. As far as this depression is situated on the praemaxillae, it is at each side divided lengthwise by two ridges obliquely continuing to below and sideways. Internally, the fused nasal bones form a bony block in front of the braincase. The rear of the nasal bone is clipped by front extensions of the frontal bone, the topmost of which is elevated relative to the skull roof. The ascending branches of the praemaxillae have internal processes pointing to behind, below and slightly inside, dividing a shared chamber at the midline. The prefrontal possesses a flange, continuing from the lower part of the lacrimal bone to the lower part of the ascending process of the prefrontal, and connecting to a process on the side of the praemaxilla to form an elevation on the side of the crest base. The side and the underside of the prefrontal show deep vertical grooves. The supratemporal fenestra is, transversely, wider than long.
caption: Size of Tsintaosaurus compared to a human