Liaoningosaurus
| Liaoningosaurus | ||||||||||||
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Lower Cretaceous (Lower Aptium ) | ||||||||||||
| 126.3 to 123 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Liaoningosaurus | ||||||||||||
| Xu , Wang & You, 2001 | ||||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||||
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Liaoningosaurus is a genus of pelvic dinosaurs (Ornithischia) from the group of Ankylosauria .
features
From liaoningosaurus two complete skeletons were found. The holotype , a young animal, is only 34 centimeters long. Like all ankylosauria, it was a four-footed dinosaur, the top of which was covered with armor made of bone plates, and in the shoulder area there were small, bony spines. However, in some features Liaoningosaurus differs significantly from all other representatives of this group. His belly was also covered with large, flat bone plates, the feet had long, claw-like toes, with the hind feet being twice as large as the front feet. Another unique feature of the skull was an opening in the lower jaw and the comparatively huge teeth.
In the second skeleton, fish bones were found, which the scientists believe were in the stomach or intestines of the specimen. This is the first evidence that a pelvic dinosaur was carnivorous or omnivorous. Adapted to this diet, the molars were long and their crowns forked. It is also assumed that the animals lived aquatic. This is indicated by both the armor on the abdomen - the animals were protected in the event of an attack from below - and the long claws on the front and rear feet. Freshwater turtles living today also have long claws on their feet.
Discovery and naming
The fossil remains of liaoningosaurus were in the Yixian Formation in the Chinese province of Liaoning discovered and 2001 by Xing Xu, Xiao-Lin Wang and Hai-Lu You firstdescribed . The only known species and thus type species is L. paradoxus . The genus name reflects the place where it was found, the specific epithet paradoxus is an allusion to the unique characteristics of the ankylosaurs. The finds are dated to the Lower Cretaceous (early Aptian ) to an age of 126 to 123 million years.
Systematics
From its first descriptors Liaoningosaurus was classified within the Ankylosauria in the group of Nodosauridae . However, it also has some features that indicate it belongs to the Ankylosauridae , the second group of the Ankylosauria. Vickaryous, M. et al. (2004) therefore list it as "Ankylosauria incertae sedis ".
literature
- Matthew K. Vickaryous, Teresa Maryańska , David B. Weishampel : Ankylosauria. In: David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson , Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 363-392.
- Xing Xu , Xiao-Lin Wang, Hai-Lu You: A juvenile ankylosaur from China. In: The natural sciences . Vol. 88, No. 7, 2001, pp. 297-300, doi : 10.1007 / s001140100233 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 228, online .
- ↑ Ji Q., Wu X., Cheng Y., Ten F., Wang X. and Ji Y. 2016. Fish Hunting Ankylosaurs (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Cretaceous of China. Journal of Geology (Chinese). 40: 183-190; DOI: 10.3969 / j.issn.1674-3636.2016.02.183 .