A new genus and species of an ankylosaurid dinosaur has been discovered in China’s Kangdaliang Mountain (1,262 meters above sea level).
There are two Ankylosaurs. Image credit: Stuart Pond.
Tianzenosaurus Chengi roamed the Earth during the Late Cretaceous Period, between 84 and 72 million years ago.
This ancient species belonged to the ankylosaurus group of armored dinosaurs that inhabited the planet from the mid-Jurassic period to the late Cretaceous period.
These intriguing creatures were recognized for their robust armor made of bony plates known as osteoderms.
These plates covered their backs and sides, providing defense against predators.
One distinctive feature of many ankylosaurid species, including Tianzenosaurus Chengi, was a large bony club at the end of its tail, which could be used as a potent weapon against predators.
The fossilized remains of this new species were unearthed in the second layer of the Late Cretaceous Huiquanpu Formation in Shanxi Province, China.
“The skull of the new species is flat and low, adorned with irregular bony plates on the roof, a rounded occipital bone slightly surpassing the skull’s roof, and a short, small, and flat bony projection at the back. These skull features differentiate it from Tianchisaurus from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, during the Middle Jurassic period, Shamosaurus from Mongolia in the early Cretaceous period, Ankylosaurus from the Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous, and Euoplocephalus not only from North America but also from Pinacosaurus from the Late Cretaceous of China and Mongolia,” as stated by Dr. Qiqing Pang and colleagues from Hebei Geographical University.
Tianzenosaurus Chengi shares its discovery location with another known species of this genus, Tianzenosaurus Yongi.
“The identification of this new species not only offers rare ankylosaurian fossil findings from China but also provides valuable insights for the study of ankylosaurian taxonomy, migration, evolution, and the paleobiogeography of Cretaceous dinosaur fauna. This discovery holds significance,” remarked the paleontologists.
Their published paper can be found in the Hebei Geography University Journal.
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Pan Chi Ching et al. 2024. New species of an ankylosaurid dinosaur — Tianzenosaurus Chengi sp. nov., Late Cretaceous, Tianzhen County, Shanxi Province, China. Hebei Geography University Journal 6; doi: 10.13937/j.cnki.hbdzdxxb.2024.06.006
Source: www.sci.news
