Tianzhenosaurus

Tianzhenosaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Mounted skeleton
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Clade:Dinosauria
Order:†Ornithischia
Family:†Ankylosauridae
Subfamily:†Ankylosaurinae
Genus:†Tianzhenosaurus
Pang & Cheng, 1998
Species: †T. youngi
Binomial name
Tianzhenosaurus youngi
Pang & Cheng, 1998

Tianzhenosaurus (Tianzhen + Greek sauros="lizard") is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur 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).

Close up of skull

This was a medium-sized ankylosaurian, the skull measuring 28 centimetres (11 in) in length, with a total body length of approximately 4 metres (13 ft).

Vickaryous et al. (2004) placed Tianzhenosaurus within the Ankylosauridae, nested as the sister group to Pinacosaurus. Some authors have suggested that Tianzhenosaurus is actually a junior synonym of Saichania chulsanensis.

See also

Sources

  • 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.



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