Description of juvenile specimens of Prosaurolophus maximus (Hadrosauridae: Saurolophinae) from the Upper Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation of southern Alberta, Canada, reveals ontogenetic changes in crest morphology

ABSTRACTThree juvenile specimens of Prosaurolophus maximus, represented by articulated to disarticulated skeletons, are the smallest known individuals for the taxon. Cranial anatomy of the juvenile specimens indicates that diagnostic characters of P. maximus are ontogenetically variable. In the smallest individual, the crest and deeply excavated fossa at the caudal margin of the circumnarial depression are poorly developed or absent. The crest approaches adult-like morphology in large juveniles, whereas crest robusticity and the deep excavation of the circumnarial depression occur only in subadult and adult individuals. The shape of the caudal margin of the circumnarial depression is consistent between juvenile and adult individuals, potentially making this feature a reliable character for taxonomic identification at younger ontogenetic stages. The crest of P. maximus grows isometrically during ontogeny, unlike the positive allometric growth of lambeosaurine hadrosaur crests, suggesting that this taxon ma...