Tianzhenosaurus
| Tianzhenosaurus | |
|---|---|
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| Reconstructed skeleton | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Thyreophora |
| Clade: | †Ankylosauria |
| Family: | †Ankylosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Ankylosaurinae |
| Tribe: | † Ankylosaurini
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| Genus: | †Tianzhenosaurus Pang & Cheng, 1998 |
| Species: | †T. youngi
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| Binomial name | |
| †Tianzhenosaurus youngi Pang & Cheng, 1998
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| Synonyms | |
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Tianzhenosaurus (meaning “
Discovery and naming
In 1983, Pang Qiqing and Cheng Zhengwu discovered articulated cervical vertebrae of an ankylosaurid from the
The generic name, Tianzhenosaurus, is derived from the
In 1999, Sullivan considered Tianzhenosaurus as a
Description
Pang & Cheng (1998) noted that the overall skull morphology of Tianzhenosaurus was similar to that of Saichania as both taxa have an isosceles triangle shaped skull, a similar location of the orbit at the mid-posterior part of the skull,
Classification
Pang & Cheng (1998) originally placed Tianzhenosaurus into Ankylosauridae, but did not specify it's relationship with other ankylosaurids.[1] Both Sullivan (1999) and Arbour & Currie (2015) considered Tianzhenosaurus as a junior synonym of Saichania based on the overall similar morphology of the skulls.[3][2] Vickaryous et al. (2004) classified Tianzhenosaurus as an ankylosaurine, sister taxon to Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus, while Thompson et al. (2012) recovered Tianzhenosaurus as sister taxon to Talarurus.[4][5] However, Wiersma and Irmis (2018) recovered Tianzhenosaurus as a valid taxon and interpreted it as sister taxon to Pinacosaurus grangeri.[6]
A phylogenetic analysis conducted by Thompson et al., 2012 is reproduced below.[5]
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The results of an earlier analysis by Vickaryous et al., 2004 is reproduced below.[4]
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Paleoenvironment
The holotype specimen of Tianzhenosaurus was recovered from the Huiquanpu Formation, which possibly dates to the Cenomanian or Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. However, the precise dating of the formation is problematic due to the absence of index fossils and the Cretaceous age is partially based on the discovery of indeterminate pliosaur material.[7] The Huiquanpu Formation consists of grey siltstones interbedded with red medium to coarse grained sandstones that has extensive cross-bedding.[7] Based on the sedimentation, the formation represents a fluvial environment, with the upper part of the formation being extensively reworked by a number of early Tertiary volcanic intrusions.[7]
Tianzhenosaurus would have coexisted with the macronarian sauropod Huabeisaurus,[8] the hadrosauroid ornithopod Datonglong,[9] the pantyrannosaurian tyrannosauroid Jinbeisaurus[10] and the ankylosaurine ankylosaurid Shanxia, which may represent a junior synonym of Tianzhenosaurus.[7][3]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Pang, Q.; Chang, Z. (1998). "A new ankylosaur of the late Cretaceous from Tianzhen, Shanxi". Progress in Natural Science.
- ^ S2CID 214625754.
- ^ .
- ^ a b Vickaryous, M. K., Maryanska, T., and Weishampel, D. B. (2004). Chapter Seventeen: Ankylosauria. in The Dinosauria (2nd edition), Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., editors. University of California Press.
- ^ S2CID 86002282.
- PMID 30065856.
- ^ .
- ^ Pang, Q.; Cheng, Z.; Yang, J.; Xie, M.; Zhu, C.; Luo, J. (1996). "The preliminary report on Late Cretaceous dinosaur fauna expeditions in Tianzhen, Shanxi". Journal of Hebei College of Geology. 19 (3–4): 227–235.
- .
- S2CID 214354354.