Xianshanosaurus
Xianshanosaurus is a genus of titanosaur sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) of the Ruyang Basin in Henan Province, China. It was described in 2009 by a team of Chinese paleontologists. The type species is X. shijiagouensis.[1]
| Xianshanosaurus | |
|---|---|
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| Reconstructed skeleton | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Somphospondyli |
| Clade: | †Titanosauria |
| Genus: | †Xianshanosaurus Lü et al., 2009 |
| Type species | |
| Xianshanosaurus shijiagouensis Lü et al., 2009 | |
Classification
Mathew Wedel and Mike Taylor, made a cladistic analysis of the pneumaticity of caudal vertebrae. The analysis found that Xianshanosaurus was a basal titanosaurian, with Malawisaurus and Trigonosaurus as its sister taxa. The cladogram found is shown below:[2]
| Macronaria |
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Habitat
Xianshanosaurus shared its habitat with Ruyangosaurus, "Huanghetitan" ruyangensis, Yunmenglong, Luoyanggia, and Zhongyuansaurus. The Haoling Formation was initially thought to be Cenomanian in age, but is now considered Aptian-Albian.[3]
References
- Lü, J.; Xu, L.; Jiang, X.; Jia, S.; Li, M.; Yuan, C.; Zhang, X.; Ji, Q. (2009). "A preliminary report on the new dinosaurian fauna from the Cretaceous of the Ruyang Basin, Henan Province of central China". Journal of the Paleontological Society of Korea. 25: 43–56.
- Wedel, M. J.; Taylor, M. P. (2013). "Caudal Pneumaticity and Pneumatic Hiatuses in the Sauropod Dinosaurs Giraffatitan and Apatosaurus". PLoS ONE. 8 (10): e78213. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0078213. PMC 3812994. PMID 24205162.
- Xu, L., Pan, Z.C., Wang, Z.H., Zhang, X.L., Jia, S.H., Lü, J.C., Jiang, B.L., 2012. Discovery and significance of the Cretaceous system in Ruyang Basin, Henan Province. Geological Review 58, 601-613.
