Wannanosaurus
| Wannanosaurus Temporal range: Campanian, 80Ma | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | †Pachycephalosauria |
| Family: | †Pachycephalosauridae |
| Genus: | †Wannanosaurus Hou, 1977 |
| Species: | † W. yansiensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Wannanosaurus yansiensis Hou, 1977 | |
Wannanosaurus (meaning "Wannan lizard", named after the location where it was discovered) is a genus of basal pachycephalosaurian dinosaur from the Campanian-age Upper Cretaceous Xiaoyan Formation, about 80 million years ago (mya) in what is now Anhui, China. The type species, Wannanosaurus yansiensis, was described by Lian-Hai Hou in 1977.[1]
It is known from a single partial skeleton, including a partial skull roof and lower jaw, an upper leg and lower leg, part of a rib, and other fragments. Because it has a flat skull roof with large openings, it has been considered primitive among pachycephalosaurs.[1][2] Sometimes it has been classified as a member of the now-deprecated family Homalocephalidae,[3][4] now thought to be an unnatural assembly of pachycephalosaurians without domed skulls.[2]
Although its remains are from a very small individual, with a femur length of ~8 centimeters (3.1 in) and an estimated overall length of less than 1 meter (3.3 ft),[1] the fused bones in its skull suggest that it was an adult at death.[5] Like other pachycephalosaurians, it was probably herbivorous or omnivorous, feeding close to the ground on a variety of plant matter, and possibly insects as well.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Hou Lian-Hai (1977). "A new primitive Pachycephalosauria from Anhui, China". Vertebrata PalAsiatica 15 (3): 198–202.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Maryańska, Teresa; Chapman, Ralph E.; Weishampel, David B. (2004). "Pachycephalosauria". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 464–477. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
- ↑ Sues, Hans-Dieter; Galton, Peter M. (1987). "Anatomy and classification of the North American Pachycephalosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia)". Palaeontographica Abteilung A 198 (1–3): 1–40.
- ↑ Carroll, Robert L. (1988). Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W.H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-1822-7.
- ↑ Maryańska, Teresa (1990). "Pachycephalosauria". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (1st ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 564–577. ISBN 0-520-06727-4.