Charonosaurus

Charonosaurus ( ; meaning "Charon's lizard") is a genus of lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur similar to Parasaurolophus that lived in the latest Cretaceous Yuliangze Formation of China. Its fossils were described by Godefroit, Zan, and Jin in 2000, on the south bank of the Amur River, dividing China from Russia. It is monotypic, consisting of the species, C. jiayinensis.

==History of discovery== left|thumb|upright|The Amur/Heilongjiang region. Triangles indicate sites where hadrosaur fossils are known. The strata of the Yuliangze Formation are in the county of Jiayin, on the Amur River, which lies on the border between China and Russia. Hadrosaur fossils had been recovered from the formation in the summers of 1916–1917, as part of expeditions conducted by the Russian Geological Committee. Taxa described based on these early expeditions include Mandchurosaurus amurensis and Saurolophus krystofovici, both named by Anatoly Riabinin. The former's validity has been historically debated, while the latter, based solely on a partial ischium, is considered a nomen dubium. Starting in 1975, various Chinese institutions conducted excavations in Yuliangze strata. From that year onwards, large bonebeds consisting of both juveniles and adults of a large hadrosaur were discovered in the strata of the Yuliangze Formation. The hadrosaur fossils in the bonebeds appear to belong to a single taxon, which apparently died en masse in the vicinity. One specimen recovered from the Yuliangze was CUST J-V1251-57, a partial skull. In 2000, Pascal Godefroit, Shuqin Zan and Liyong Jin erected a new genus and species, Charonosaurus jiayinensis, to accommodate the Yuliangze material, and designated CUST J-V1251-57 as the holotype specimen. The genus name is derived from Charon, the ferryman from Greek mythology who carried the dead across the dead river Acheron (or Styx), and the ancient Greek "sauros" (lizard). The species name jiayinensis refers to the type locality (site) Jiayin.