Gobisaurus
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Extinct (fossil)
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| Gobisaurus domoculus Vickaryous et al., 2001 |
Gobisaurus (Vickaryous et. al. 2001) is an ankylosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Aptian-?Albian) Ulansuhai Formation (Nei Mongol Zizhiqu) of China. The holotype (IVPP V12563) consists of a skull and as yet undescribed postcranial remains. Along with its sister taxon Shamosaurus, Gobisaurus is "nested deep within the ankylosaurid lineage as the first successive outgroup to [the subfamily) Ankylosaurinae" (Vickaryous et. al., 2004). This is a large ankylosaur, with a skull measuring 46 cm. in length and 45 cm. across. The name means "Gobi (Desert) lizard," referring to its discovery by the Sino-Soviet Expeditions (1959–1960) in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. The genus is monotypic, containing only G. domoculus.
[edit] Gobisaurus and Shamosaurus
Gobisaurus domoculus shares many cranial similarities with Shamosaurus scutatus, including a rounded squamosal, large elliptical orbital fenestrae and external nares, a deltoid dorsal profile with a narrow rostrum, quadratojugal protuberances, and caudolaterally directed paroccipital processes. But the two taxa may be distinguished by differences in the length of the maxillary tooth row, an unfused basipterygoid-pterygoid process in Gobisaurus, the presence on an elongate vomerine premaxillary process in Gobisaurus, and the presence of cranial sculpting in Shamosaurus, but not in Gobisaurus.
[edit] References
- Matthew K. Vickaryous, Anthony P. Russell, Philip J. Currie, and Xi-Jin Zhao. 2001. A new ankylosaurid (Dinosauria: Ankylosauria) from the Lower Cretaceous of China, with comments on ankylosaurian relationships. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences/Rev. can. sci. Terre 38(12):1767-1780.
- Vickaryous, Maryanska, and Weishampel 2004. Chapter Seventeen: Ankylosauria. in The Dinosauria (2nd edition), Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., editors. University of California Press.
