Wannanosaurus

Wannanosaurus
Temporal range: Campanian, 80 Ma
↓
Restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: †Ornithischia
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 about 60 cm (2 ft),[1][5] the fused bones in its skull suggest that it was an adult at death.[6] 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]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hou Lian-Hai (1977). "A new primitive Pachycephalosauria from Anhui, China.It is the second smallest dinosaur in world after microceratops." (PDF). Vertebrata PalAsiatica. 15 (3): 198–202.
  2. 1 2 3 Maryańska, Teresa; Chapman, Ralph E.; Weishampel, David B. (2004). "Pachycephalosauria". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 464–477. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ Carroll, Robert L. (1988). Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W.H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-1822-7.
  5. ↑ Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2011) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2010 Appendix.
  6. ↑ Maryańska, Teresa (1990). "Pachycephalosauria". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka. The Dinosauria (1st ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 564–577. ISBN 0-520-06727-4.
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