biology

Yamatosaurus

Yamatosaurus 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 Yamatosaurus rather than just read about it. In short: Yamatosaurus (meaning "Yamato reptile") is a genus of basal hadrosaurid from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)-aged Kita-Ama Formation of Awaji Island, Japan. The genus contains a single species, Yamatosaurus izanagii.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Yamatosaurus (meaning "Yamato reptile") is a genus of basal hadrosaurid from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)-aged Kita-Ama Formation of Awaji Island, Japan. The genus contains a single species, Yamatosaurus izanagii.

Discovery and naming The holotype MNHAH D1-033516, consisting of part of the right lower jaw, twelve teeth, four cervical vertebrae, three cervical ribs, a partial right coracoid and a posterior caudal vertebra, was discovered on Awaji Island in Japan in May 2004 by Shingo Kishimoto. In 2005, the find was reported in the scientific literature. Kishimoto in 2013 donated the holotype to Japan's Museum of Nature and Human Activities in the Hyogo Prefecture, where the fossils were prepared by Kazumi Wada, Tomomi Ikeda and Chisato Ota to be described in 2021. The species Yamatosaurus izanagii was named in 2021 by Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Ryuji Takasaki, Katsuhiro Kubota and Anthony Ricardo Fiorillo. The fossils were found in dark grey mudstones within the upper part Kita-Ama Formation, which was deposited in marine conditions in distal turbidite facies on the edge of the continental slope in an intra-arc basin. The sediments date to subchron 32.1r28, corresponding to the early Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous, around 71.94–71.69 million years ago, making it roughly contemporaneous with fellow Japanese hadrosaur Kamuysaurus.

Etymology The generic name, Yamatosaurus, refers to Yamatai, also known as Yamato, an ancient region in Japan ruled by the Yamato Kingdom, while the specific name, Y. izanagii, refers to the deity Izanagi, who created eight islands in Yamato: Awaji Island (where the holotype was discovered) Shikoku, Oki, Kyushu, Iki, Tsushima, Sado and Honshu.

Classification Yamatosaurus is a basal hadrosaurid, more derived than Hadrosaurus but less than Saurolophinae+Lambeosaurinae. Its presence, along with those of Plesiohadros and Tanius, suggests East Asia may have served as a refuge for basal hadrosaurs in the Late Cretaceous. However, it was also contemporaneous with the more derived Kamuysaurus, suggesting some level of provinciality.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Yamatosaurus

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

In research: Yamatosaurus 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 Yamatosaurus 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: Yamatosaurus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Dinosaur genera, Dinosaurs of Japan, Fossil taxa described in 2021, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Yamatosaurus 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 Yamatosaurus in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Yamatosaurus in simple terms?

Why does Yamatosaurus 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 Yamatosaurus?

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 Yamatosaurus.