Wannanosaurus

• China

Wannanosaurus is a genus of bird Beck dinosaur ( Ornithischia ) from the group of Pachycephalosauria. Only species described is W. yansiensis.

Features

From Wannanosaurus date the remains were of two animals found are known parts of the skullcap, the lower jaw, parts of the basin as well as individual limb bones. The skull roof was flat and the pace Supra Ralf Rochester (the upper cranial window of the temporal region ) pronounced, making this dinosaur is similar to other flat -headed Pachycephalosauriern as Homalocephale. Characteristic of Wannanosaurus are the low, fan-shaped crowns and the strong curvature of the femur. The findings suggest a very small animal that probably only around 0.6 meters in length reached, perhaps, these were but to young animals. Presumably Wannanosaurus like all Pachycephalosaurier a biped, probably more herbivorous dinosaurs. On the Function of the thickened calvarium see function of the cranial vault in the Pachycephalosauria.

Discovery and classification

The fossil remains of Wannanosaurus were found in the Xiaoyan Formation in Anhui province and first described in 1977. The genus name is derived from the locality from, only known type and therefore the type species is W. yansiensis. 72 bis 69 million years dated.

Wannanosaurus regarded as primitive representatives of Pachycephalosauria. A cladistic analysis of T. Maryańska et al. saw him as the sister group of all other than Goyocephala summarized Pachycephalosauria. Due to the scant remains such results remain controversial.