biology

Portellsaurus

Portellsaurus 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 Portellsaurus rather than just read about it. In short: Portellsaurus (meaning "Portell Lizard") is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Margas de Mirambell Formation of Spain. The genus contains a single species, Portellsaurus sosbaynati, known from a partial right dentary.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Portellsaurus (meaning "Portell Lizard") is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Margas de Mirambell Formation of Spain. The genus contains a single species, Portellsaurus sosbaynati, known from a partial right dentary.

Discovery and naming Portellsaurus was discovered in 1998 by Miquel Guardiola, Julián Yuste and Silvia Fabregat in a site near Mas de Curolles. The generic name, Portellsaurus, comes from the Portell de Morella, the town where the holotype was recovered, and the specific name, sosbaynati, refers to Vicente Sos Baynat, a Spanish geologist who was the first scientist honored by Universitat Jaume I as "Doctor Honoris Causa".

Description Portellsaurus is known from an almost complete right dentary, MQ98-II-1, which is stored at the Colección Museográfica de Cinctorres in Castellón. Portellsaurus can be distinguished from other styracosternans through the possession of two unique features: the absence of a bulge along the ventral margin directly below the base of the coronoid process, convergently found in Altirhinus and Sirindhorna, and the presence of a deep oval cavity on the middle of the lower jaw's adductor fossa below the eleventh-twelfth tooth position. This cavity internally connects with the last nutrient foramina in the dentary.

Classification Santos-Cubedo et al. performed a phylogenetic analysis based on the dataset used in the redescription of Iguanodon galvensis and recovered Portellsaurus as a derived non-hadrosauromorph hadrosauroid. Below is the 50% majority consensus tree from the analysis:

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Portellsaurus

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

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

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Portellsaurus in simple terms?

Why does Portellsaurus 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 Portellsaurus?

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 Portellsaurus.