Saichania
| Saichania | ||||||||||||
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Skeletal reconstruction of Saichania chulsanensis |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Cretaceous ( Campanium ) | ||||||||||||
| 83.6 to 72 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Saichania | ||||||||||||
| Maryańska , 1977 | ||||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||||
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Saichania is a genus of bird basin dinosaurs from the Ankylosauria group that lived in the Upper Cretaceous in East Asia.
features
Saichania reached a length of around 7 meters and was one of the larger ankylosaurs. It had a stocky body with short, strong limbs and, like all ankylosaurs, moved quadruped (on all fours). As with all representatives of this group, the trunk was covered with armor made of bone plates, in addition to numerous small plates, Saichania also had spikes arranged in rows. The belly was also covered with bone plates. The tail ended in a massive bony club, which probably served as a defense against the enemy.
The skull of Saichania , like that of all Ankylosauridae, was built very broad and massive, the snout ended in a broad, toothless horned beak. He had two bony protrusions on the back of his head and on his cheeks. The top of the skull was also covered by armor made of rounded bone plates. As with most ankylosaurs, the teeth were small and leaf-shaped and adapted to a plant-based diet. In contrast to the more primitive ankylosaurs, Saichania had developed a bony palate . Inside the skull there were air ducts that presumably served to cool and humidify the breathing air. This indicates that Saichania lived in a hot, dry habitat, which the palate could also speak for, which allowed it to consume even tough plant material.
Discovery and naming
Fossil remains of Saichania were found by a Polish-Mongolian expedition in the Baruungoyot Formation in the Mongolian region of Ömnö-Gobi-Aimag in the 1970s . The name Saichania is derived from "saichan", the Mongolian word for "beautiful" and refers to its very well preserved skeleton and not to its appearance. The only species and thus type species in S. chulsanensis . The remains of three animals were found, including two complete skulls and an almost complete skeleton, as well as individual bone plates. The finds are dated to an age of around 83 to 72 million years and thus in the Upper Cretaceous ( Campanium ).
Systematics
Saichania is classified within the Ankylosauridae in the group of Ankylosaurinae (the younger, more highly developed representatives). Here it forms an unnamed clade together with other East Asian representatives such as Talarurus , Pinacosaurus and Tianzhenosaurus .
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.
Web links
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. 231, online .