Liaoningosaurus

• China (Liaoning)

• Liaoningosaurus paradoxus

Liaoningosaurus is a genus of bird Beck dinosaur ( Ornithischia ) from the group of Ankylosauria.

Features

From Liaoningosaurus a complete skeleton of a young animal was found, which is only 34 inches long. Like all Ankylosauria he was a quadrupedal dinosaur, whose top was covered with an armor of bony plates, the shoulder area small, bony spines were present. In some features to Liaoningosaurus but significantly different from all other representatives of this group. So also his belly with large, flat bone plates was covered, his feet wore long, claw-like toes, the hind feet were twice as large as the front feet. Unique in the structure of the skull also was an opening in the lower jaw as well as the comparatively huge teeth.

Discovery and designation

The fossil remains of Liaoningosaurus were discovered in the Yixian Formation in Liaoning province and first described in 2001 by Xing Xu, Xiao- Lin Wang and Hai - Lu You. Only known type and therefore the type species is L. paradoxus. The generic name reflects the locality, the specific epithet paradoxus is an allusion to the unique characteristics among the ankylosauruses. The finds are dated in the lower Cretaceous ( Aptian early ) with an age 126-123 million years ago.

System

From its Erstbeschreibern Liaoningosaurus was filed within the Ankylosauria in the group of Nodosauridae, but it also has some characteristics that indicate an affiliation with the Ankylosauridae, the second group of Ankylosauria. M. Vickaryous et al. Therefore ( 2004) present him as " incertae sedis Ankylosauria ".