Gongshuilong: Beast of the Week

 Today we're checking out a recently described hadrosaur with a unique look, Gongshuilong fanwei!

Gongshuilong lived in what is now eastern China, during the late Cretaceous period, between 68 and 66 million years ago.  From beak to tail it measured about 23 feet (7m) long and would have been a plant-eater when alive.  The genus name translates from Mandarin to "Gong River Dragon" in reference to the Gong River near where its bones were discovered.

Gongshuilong life reconstruction in watercolors by Christopher DiPiazza.

Gongshuilong was a member of the hadrosaurid ("duck- billed") family of dinosaurs.  More specifically it was a saurolophine hadrosaur, which is the group that had broader bills and sometimes had crests made of solid bone structures on their heads.  Maiasaura and Probrachylophosaurus are two examples of close relatives.  Like its relatives, Gongshuilong would have been able to walk on all four legs or just its hind legs if it wanted to.  Its claws would have been hoof-like and the middle three fingers of each hand would have been fused together into a mitt, with one single hoof-like claw on the tip of them.  Like all members of its family it would have possessed a broad beak in the front of its jaws, backed up by rows of small teeth packed together to form what are referred to as "dental batteries".  These teeth were ideal for chewing up tough plants.

Photo of some of Gonghsuilong's bones, zooming in on the tall neural arches on the tail.  Image from the paper by Yao et al. listed below.

What makes Gongshuilong unusual for a hadrosaur is the fact that it had a display structure on its tail, in the form of a tall sail made up of elongated neural arches.  This would have given it a unique profile for a dinosaur, which makes me think of some living species of lizards which also sport similar structures on their tails for display within the species.  (Spinosaurus funnily enough independently had something similar)  It is likely Gongshuilong was doing something similar with its tail, possibly signaling to members of the same species for mating displays or to intimidate rivals.  Perhaps females possessed smaller sails than males?  We would need to find more fossils to have a better idea for sure.  

References

Ibrahim, Nizar; Maganuco, Simone; Dal Sasso, Cristiano; Fabbri, Matteo; Auditore, Marco; Bindellini, Gabriele; Martill, David M.; Zouhri, Samir; Mattarelli, Diego A.; Unwin, David M.; Wiemann, Jasmina; Bonadonna, Davide; Amane, Ayoub; Jakubczak, Juliana; Joger, Ulrich; Lauder, George V.; Pierce, Stephanie E. (May 7, 2020). "Tail-propelled aquatic locomotion in a theropod dinosaur". Nature. 581 (7806): 67–70.

Yao, Han; Qiu, Wenjiang; Yu, Juan; Yang, Ling; Wang, Huimin; Cao, Shenghua; Zhao, Kui; Xu, Mengyuan; Shi, Guo; Lou, Fasheng; Zeng, Cuimin; Lu, Pikun; Wu, Rui; Xu, Xing; Han, Fenglu (2026-03-30). "A new saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of South China, providing further support for the possible Asian origin of Brachylophosaurini".