Nankangia
| Nankangia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Lower jaw | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Superfamily: | †Caenagnathoidea |
| Genus: | †Nankangia Lü et al., 2013
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| Type species | |
| †Nankangia jiangxiensis Lü et al., 2013
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Nankangia is an
carnivorous. Its diet consisted of leaves and seeds.[1]
Discovery
Nankangia was first described and named by
Nankang County in Jiangxi Province, and the specific name honors the province where the holotype site in Nankang City is located.[1]
Nankangia is known solely from the
The holotype was found in 2010 at the town of Longling of Nankang, Ganzhou City, by a local farmer who donated it to the Ganzhou Museum of Natural History. It was collected from the Nanxiong Formation, dating probably to the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous.[1]
Description
Nankangia is distinguished from all other
oviraptorosaurians based on a combination of traits, some of which are autapomorphic (i.e. unique). On the ventral surface near the base of the transverse process of the dorsal vertebrae two infradiapophyseal fossae are present. The sacral vertebrae bear slit-like pneumatic fossae. The neural spines of the anterior caudal vertebrae are wider transversely than anteroposteriorly, forming a large posterior fossa with a rugose central area. These vertebrae possess a large fossa on the anterior surface of the base of the transverse process (infraprezygapophyseal fossa) and as well as an infradiapophyseal fossa on the ventral surface of the transverse process.[1]
The
Wulansuhai Formation of Inner Mongolia, Lü et al. (2013) could not differentiated between them.[1]
The rostral end of the mandibular symphyseal region is not downturned in Nankangia, as in
herbivorous diet, whereas Banji and another unnamed oviraptorid from the same formation may have been more carnivorous, as they bear a downturned mandibular symphysis.[1]
Phylogeny
The
| Oviraptorosauria |
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The phylogenetic analysis of Lü et al. (2017) recovered it as an oviraptorid closely related to
