Shanxia

• China ( Shanxi )

• Shanxia tianzhenensis Barrett et al. 1,998

Shanxia is a little-known genus of bird Beck dinosaur ( Ornithischia ) from the group of Ankylosauria.

Features

From Shanxia only fragments of the skull, individual vertebrae, parts of the basin as well as individual limb bones are previously known. From these findings, the length of the animal to around 3.5 meters can be estimated. The most prominent characteristic of this dinosaur were the slender, elongated horn-like outgrowths on the squamosal ( squamosal ) - a skull - were sitting. Similar horn-like outgrowths are known by other ankylosauruses, but these are usually shorter and thicker than in Shanxia. The rest of the body appears to correspond to that of the other Ankylosauria, the stocky body was probably covered with an armor of bony plates. The dinosaur was moving quadruped ( on all fours ) continued and fed on plants.

Discovery and designation

The fossil remains of Shanxia were discovered in the Huiquanpu formation in the Chinese province of Shanxi and first described in 1998. The name is derived from the locality from, type species and only known species is S. tianzhenensis. The finds are dated to the late Cretaceous ( Maastrichtian ).

System

The systematic status of Shanxia is controversial. According to some researchers, this could be, be a synonym of Tianzhenosaurus, who comes from the same formation. M. Vickaryous et al. (2004) lead Shanxia therefore nomen dubium as.