Zhejiangosaurus

Zhejiangosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 100.5–93.9Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Suborder:	†Ankylosauria
Family:	†Nodosauridae
Genus:	†Zhejiangosaurus Lü et al., 2007
Species:	† Z. lishuiensis
Binomial name
Zhejiangosaurus lishuiensis Lü et al., 2007
Synonyms
Dongyangopelta? Chen et al., 2012

Zhejiangosaurus (meaning "Zhejiang lizard") is an extinct genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian stage) of Zhejiang, eastern China. It was first named by a group of Chinese and Japanese authors Junchang Lü, Xingsheng Jin, Yiming Sheng and Yihong Li in 2007 and the type species is Zhejiangosaurus lishuiensis ("from Lishui", Chinese administrative unit on which the fossil was found).^[1]

Material

Material for Zhejiangosaurus consists of the holotype, ZNHM M8718, a partial skeleton which has preserved a sacrum with eight vertebrae, a complete right ilium and partial left ilium, a complete right pubis, the proximal end of the right ischium, two complete hindlimbs, fourteen caudal vertebrae, and some unidentified bones. These remains come from Liancheng, in the Chinese administrative unit of Lishui on the province of Zhejiang and they were collected from the Cenomanian-age Chaochuan Formation.^[1]

Systematics

On the species description, Lü et al. (2007) found Zhejiangosaurus to belong to the ankylosaurian family Nodosauridae.^[1] It is the only known nodosaurid from Asia as both Zhongyuansaurus and Liaoningosaurus are no longer considered nodosaurids.^[2]

References