biology

Koutalisaurus

Koutalisaurus 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 Koutalisaurus rather than just read about it. In short: Koutalisaurus (meaning "spoon lizard", in reference to the shape of the dentary) is a potentially dubious genus of lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur based on a mostly complete dentary recovered from the Maastrichtian-aged (Late Cretaceous) Tremp Formation near the town of Abella de la Conca, Lleida, Spain. Discovery and naming The holotype dentary, IPS SRA 27, had previously been referred to Pararhabdodon in 1999…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Koutalisaurus (meaning "spoon lizard", in reference to the shape of the dentary) is a potentially dubious genus of lambeosaurine hadrosaurid dinosaur based on a mostly complete dentary recovered from the Maastrichtian-aged (Late Cretaceous) Tremp Formation near the town of Abella de la Conca, Lleida, Spain.

Discovery and naming The holotype dentary, IPS SRA 27, had previously been referred to Pararhabdodon in 1999, but comes from a different locality, is based on non-comparable material, and has unusual characteristics, leading Prieto-Marquez et al. (2006) to place the dentary in the new species Koutalisaurus kohleorum. Koutalisaurus was later found to be an invalid nomen dubium, although later studies do not reflect this hypothesis and still classify Koutalisaurus as a valid genus. In 2007, a poster presentation and abstract at a conference suggested many of the hadrosaur specimens found at the Basturs Poble bonebed may have belonged to Koutalisaurus, but they cautioned an adult dentary from the bonebed would need to be discovered to test the hypothesis. This idea was later rejected after the Basturs Poble remains were reclassified as belonging to lambeosaurines such as Adynomosaurus and cf. Pararhabdodon.

Description The dentary is very elongate, and has a long toothless portion (the front of the jaw, including the end where the predentary would have been attached) that is bent steeply downward and inward, which would have given the jaw a spoon-like shape when complete. It is comparable in size, although on the small side and with unusual proportions (see above), compared to dentaries from other hadrosaurids.

Classification Prieto-Marquez et al. (2006) found the animal to be a hadrosaurid, but of uncertain placement within the family. More recent work by Prieto-Marquez and Wagner suggests that it is the same as Pararhabdodon as originally thought. A 2020 study by Nick Longrich and colleagues describing the genus Ajnabia found Koutalisaurus to be an arenysaurin. The cladogram from their study's phylogenetic analysis is shown below:

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Koutalisaurus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Koutalisaurus 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 Koutalisaurus 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 Koutalisaurus 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 Koutalisaurus

In research: Koutalisaurus 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 Koutalisaurus 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: Koutalisaurus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Dinosaur genera, Dinosaurs of Spain, Fossil taxa described in 2006, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Koutalisaurus 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 Koutalisaurus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Koutalisaurus 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 Koutalisaurus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Koutalisaurus in simple terms?

Why does Koutalisaurus 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 Koutalisaurus?

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 Koutalisaurus.