Tianzhenosaurus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tienzhenosaurus Fossil range: Late Cretaceous
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Superorder: Dinosauria Order: Ornithischia Suborder: Thyreophora Infraorder: Ankylosauria Family: Ankylosauridae Genus: Tianzhenosaurus Species: T. youngi
Binomial name
Tianzhenosaurus youngi Pang & Cheng, 1998

Tianzhenosaurus (Tianzhen + Greek sauros="lizard") a name proposed for an ankylosaurid discovered in Tianzhen County, at Kangdailiang near Zhaojiagou Village, in Shanxi Province, China, in the Late Cretaceous Huiquanpu Formation. Thus far, a virtually complete skull and postcranial skeleton have been assigned to the genus, which is monotypic (T. youngi Pang & Cheng, 1998). This was a medium-sized ankylosaur, the skull measuring 28 cm. in length, with a total body length of approximately four meters. Many authors have suggested that Tianzhenosaurus is actually a junior synonym of Saichania chulsanensis, but this matter remains unresolved, and Vickaryous et. al. (2004) placed it within the Ankylosauridae, nested as the sister group to Pinacosaurus.

[edit] References

• Carpenter, K. (ed.) The Armored Dinosaurs. pp. 454-483. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
• Pang, Q and Cheng, Z. 1998. A new ankylosaur of the late Cretaceous from Tianzhen, Shanxi. Progress in Natural Science 8(3):326-334.
• 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.