Shanxia

Shanxia is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived during the upper Cretaceous Period. Its fossils were recovered and named after the Shanxi Province of China, and it is known only from scrappy remains found in river deposits. Based on the relative lengths of the femur and other leg bones, it probably reached a length of around 3.6 metres (12 ft).

Shanxia
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 99–71 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: †Ornithischia
Family: †Ankylosauridae
Subfamily: †Ankylosaurinae
Genus: †Shanxia
Barrett et al., 1998
Species:
†S. tianzhenensis
Binomial name
†Shanxia tianzhenensis
Barrett et al., 1998

Barrett et al. (1998) distinguished Shanxia from other ankylosaurs in having long and flattened triangle-shaped horns that project backward from the squamosal bones on either side of the rear portion of its skull at an angle of 145 degrees. However, Sullivan (1999) considered Shanxia a nomen dubium, possibly synonymous with the related ankylosaurid Tianzhenosaurus, arguing that the unique shape of the squamosal horns could be a product of individual variation, but Upchurch and Barrett (2000) reaffirmed the validity of Shanxia. In their systematic review of ankylosaurids, Arbour and Currie (2015) treated Shanxia as a junior synonym of Saichania.[1]

See also

References
  1. Arbour, Victoria M.; Currie, Philip J. (2015). "Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology: 1. doi:10.1080/14772019.2015.1059985.
  • Barrett, P. M.; You, H.; Upchurch, P. & Burton, A. C. (1998). "A new ankylosaurian dinosaur (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (2): 376–384. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011065.
  • Sullivan, R. M. (1999). "Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis, gen. et sp. nov., a new ankylosaurid dinosaur (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Kirtland Formation (Upper Campanian), San Juan Basin, New Mexico". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 19 (1): 126–139. doi:10.1080/02724634.1999.10011128.
  • Upchurch, P. & Barrett, P. M. (2000). "The taxonomic status of Shanxia tianzhenensis (Ornithiscia, Ankylosauridae); a response to Sullivan (1999)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 20: 216–217. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2000)020[0216:TTSOST]2.0.CO;2.


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