Anatotitan
ah-NAT-oh-TIE-tan /əˌnætəˈtaɪtən/
Synonym of Edmontosaurus
giant duck
- anato- · Latin · duck (from Latin anas, genitive anatis)
- titan · Greek · giant
The name combines the Latin word for duck with the Greek word "titan", meaning giant. It refers to the animal's large size and its broad, flattened, duck-like bill, typical of hadrosaurs. The type species is Anatotitan copei, originally described as Trachodon copei.
- Named by
- Brett-Surman
- Year named
- 1990
- Period
- Late Cretaceous
- Stage
- Maastrichtian
- Found in
- Hell Creek Formation (and related Maastrichtian deposits), Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming, USA
Many recent studies (e.g. Campione and Evans, 2011) treat Anatotitan copei as a junior synonym of Edmontosaurus annectens, possibly an older, larger individual with a more elongated skull. Some researchers have still treated it as a distinct genus. Authorship is sometimes given as Chapman and Brett-Surman, 1990.