biology

Huehuecanauhtlus

Huehuecanauhtlus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Huehuecanauhtlus rather than just read about it. In short: Huehuecanauhtlus is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian stage) of Michoacán, western Mexico. It contains a single species, Huehuecanauhtlus tiquichensis.

Key takeaways

Huehuecanauhtlus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Huehuecanauhtlus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Huehuecanauhtlus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Huehuecanauhtlus is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian stage) of Michoacán, western Mexico. It contains a single species, Huehuecanauhtlus tiquichensis.

Discovery

Huehuecanauhtlus is known only from two individuals. The holotype IGM 6253 represented by fragmentary skull (partial left maxilla and dentary fragment) and postcranial skeleton including four cervical vertebrae, nine dorsal vertebrae, four dorsal neural spines, one dorsal diapophysis, five right dorsal ribs, seven left dorsal ribs, seven sacral neural spines, seven sacral diapophyses, one caudal diapophysis, three caudal vertebrae, two caudal neural spine, eight fragmentary ossified tendons, left and right partial ilium, and left and right partial pubis. The smaller paratype, IGM 6254, is represented by fragment of left dentary, two teeth, and one cervical prezygapophysis. Both specimens were collected at the Barranca Los Bonetes locality in Tuzantla, Michoacán. The holotype came from the sixth fossiliferous spot, whereas the paratype came from the third spot, of an unnamed formation, dating to the Santonian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, about 85.8–83.5 million years ago. Huehuecanauhtlus was first described and named by Angel Alejandro Ramírez-Velasco, Mouloud Benammi, Albert Prieto-Márquez, Jesús Alvarado Ortega and René Hernández-Rivera in 2012 and the type species is Huehuecanauhtlus tiquichensis. The generic name is derived from Náhuatl (group of dialects related to the Aztecan languages) huehuetl, meaning "ancient" and canauhtli, meaning "duck" in reference to its hadrosauroid affinities. The specific name, tiquichensis, honors the town of Tiquicheo, for the generosity and hospitality of its people during the fieldwork season.

Description Huehuecanauhtlus was a medium-sized hadrosaur, measuring 6 metres (20 ft) long and weighing around 1–1.4 metric tons (1.1–1.5 short tons). Ramírez-Velasco et al. (2012) diagnosed Huehuecanauhtlus by a unique combination of characters. For example, two teeth exposed on the occlusal plane of the rostral third and the posterior third of the dentary and maxilla, respectively. It had seven sacral vertebrae and tall neural spines of posterior vertebrae, being between 3.5 and 4 times taller than their corresponding centra. As in Claosaurus, its supraacetabular process is as long as 75% of the length of the central iliac plate, with an apex located above the posteroventral corner of the ischiac tuberosity. It differs from other hadrosauroids in possessing an extremely deflected preacetabular process of the ilium, so that the bisecting long axis of the process forms an angle less than 130° with the horizontal plane defined by the ischiac and pubic peduncles. It can be differentiated from basal hadrosauroids in having a very deep concave profile of the dorsomedial margin of the iliac plate, adjacent to the supraacetabular process.

Classification A phylogenetic analysis performed by Ramírez-Velasco et al. (2012) found a big polytomy of all hadrosauroids which are more derived than Probactrosaurus but less derived than Hadrosauridae. The exclusion of Claosaurus, Jeyawati, Levnesovia, Nanyangosaurus, Shuangmiaosaurus and Telmatosaurus from the polytomy resulted in a more resolved topology. The cladogram below shows Huehuecanauhtlus phylogenetic position among other hadrosauroids following this topology (the relationships within Hadrosauridae are not shown).

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Huehuecanauhtlus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Huehuecanauhtlus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Huehuecanauhtlus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Huehuecanauhtlus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Huehuecanauhtlus

In research: Huehuecanauhtlus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Huehuecanauhtlus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Huehuecanauhtlus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Dinosaur genera, Dinosaurs of Mexico, Fossil taxa described in 2012, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Huehuecanauhtlus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Huehuecanauhtlus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Huehuecanauhtlus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Huehuecanauhtlus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Huehuecanauhtlus in simple terms?

Huehuecanauhtlus is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian stage) of Michoacán, western Mexico. It contains a single species, Huehuecanauhtlus tiquichensis.

Why does Huehuecanauhtlus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Huehuecanauhtlus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Huehuecanauhtlus.