Tanius Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
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Restoration of T. sinensis | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | † Ornithischia |
Clade: | † Neornithischia |
Clade: | † Ornithopoda |
Clade: | † Hadrosauromorpha |
Genus: | † Tanius Wiman, 1929 |
Species [1] | |
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Tanius (meaning "of Tan") is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur. It lived in the Late Cretaceous of China. The type species, named and described in 1929 by Carl Wiman, is Tanius sinensis. The generic name honours the Chinese paleontologist Tan Xichou ("H.C. Tan"). The specific epithet refers to China. [2] In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated the length of Tanius at 7 metres (23 ft) and its weight at 2 metric tons (2.2 short tons). [3]
In April 1923, H. C. T'an discovered the remains in the east of Shandong at the village of Ch'ing-kang-kou, ten kilometres southeast of Lai Yang. In October of the same year they were excavated by Tan's associate, the Austrian paleontologist Otto Zdansky. Although the specimen was originally rather complete, only parts could be salvaged. The holotype, PMU R.240, was recovered from the Jiangjunding Formation of the Wangshi Series dating from the Campanian. It consists of the back of the skull, which was flat and elongated.
Other species originally assigned to Tanius have been moved to other genera. These include: Tanius prynadai named in 1939 by Anatoly Nikolaevich Ryabinin, [4] which was assigned to Bactrosaurus ; and Tanius chingkankouensis named in 1958 by Yang Zhongjian, [5] and Tanius laiyangensis named in 1976 by Zhen Shuonan, [6] which were both later considered junior subjective synonyms of Tsintaosaurus . [7] However, a more recent study, Zhang et al. (2017) determined that T. sinensis and T. chingkankouensis were valid species of Tanius, and that T. laiyangensis was probably not valid. [1] Zhang et al. (2019) re-assessed "Tanius" laiyangensis as a member of the saurolophine clade Kritosaurini, the first of the clade from Asia. [8]
The type species Tanius sinensis was found in the Jiangjunding Formation of the Chinese Wangshi Group. [1] The Jiangjunding formation consists purpley-grey or reddy-brown sandstones or various consistencies, siltstones and conglomerates. The Wangshi group of geologic formations is generally considered to be from the Late Cretaceous, although some regions are older. Based on the discovery of Pinacosaurus , only known elsewhere in the Djadokhta Formation or regions of the same age, the Wangshi Group was presumed to be a similar age of 75-71 million years old. The specific age for the Hongtuya Formation has been identified as 73.5-72.9 mya. As the Hongtuya is directly older than the Jiangjunding, it was identified that Tanius sinensis lived in the latest Campanian to earliest Maastrichtian by Borinder in 2015. [9]
The Jiangjunding Formation was deposited in a fluvial to lacustrine environment. The climate was warm and humid during the majority of the timespan, although it was beginning to dry out after the Jiangjunding. Taxa that lived alongside Tanius in the formation include the ankylosaur Pinacosaurus cf. grangeri ; possibly the cerapodan Micropachycephalosaurus ; intermediate sauropods; intermediate coelurosaurs; and intermediate cheloniids which show similarities to Nanhsiungchelyidae. Multiple localities of dinosaur eggs have also been identified. [9]
Both T. chingkankouensis and T. laiyangensis were discovered in the Jingangkou Formation, which is directly above the Jiangjunding. This formation has been the site of massive excavations of hadrosaurs in both the 1950s and the 2010s. A majority of the strata is green-grey mudstone, where the bones excavated are coloured black. The sediment in the location of the hadrosaur excavations was deposited by a mudflow event, where the carcasses were trapped and moved a short distance before rapid burial. At least 20 individuals of hadrosaurs have been uncovered, of various ages. Hadrosaurs from these localities include Tanius, Tsintaosaurus, Laiyangosaurus and Shantungosaurus . Other taxa uncovered include the theropods Chingkankousaurus and cf. Szechuanosaurus campi , and the testudine Glyptops . [1]
Shantungosaurus is a genus of very large saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaur found in the Late Cretaceous Wangshi Group of the Shandong Peninsula in China, containing a single species, Shantungosaurus giganteus. The stratigraphic interval of Shantungosaurus ranges from the top of the Xingezhuang Formation to the middle of the Hongtuya Formation, middle to late Campanian in age. Shantungosaurus is so far the largest hadrosauroid taxon in the world, with size estimates around 15–17 metres (49–56 ft) in length and 13–16 metric tons in body mass.
Micropachycephalosaurus is an extinct genus of basal marginocephalian dinosaur containing only the type species, Micropachycephalosaurus hongtuyanensis. It lived in China during the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) and was found in the Jiangjunding Formation.
Tsintaosaurus is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur from China. It was about 8.3 metres (27 ft) long and weighed 2.5 tonnes. The type species is Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus, first described by Chinese paleontologist C. C. Young in 1958.
Tianzhenosaurus is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Shanxi Province that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Huiquanpu Formation. Tianzhenosaurus may represent a junior synonym of Saichania, an ankylosaurine known from the Barun Goyot and Nemegt Formation.
The Iren Dabasu Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation in the Iren Nor region of Inner Mongolia. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. The formation was first described and defined by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1922 and it is located in the Iren Nor region of China.
The Wangshi Group is a geological Group in Shandong, China whose strata date back to the Coniacian to Campanian stages of the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the group.
The Xinlong Formation is an Early Cretaceous geologic formation in Guangxi, southern China.
Sinoceratops is an extinct genus of ceratopsian dinosaur that lived from 73.5 to 66 million years ago during the latter part of the Cretaceous Period in what is now Shandong province in China. It was named in 2010 by Xu Xing et al. for three skulls from Zhucheng, China. The name of its type species Sinoceratops zhuchengensis means "Chinese horned face from Zhucheng", after the location of its discovery.
Ovaloolithus is an oogenus of dinosaur egg. Eggs of the genus have been found in China, Mongolia and Utah.
The year 2010 in Archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur palaeontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2010 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs.
The year 2009 in Archosaur paleontology was eventful. Archosaurs include the only living dinosaur group — birds — and the reptile crocodilians, plus all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs. Archosaur paleontology is the scientific study of those animals, especially as they existed before the Holocene Epoch began about 11,700 years ago. The year 2009 in paleontology included various significant developments regarding archosaurs.
This timeline of oviraptorosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the oviraptorosaurs, a group of beaked, bird-like theropod dinosaurs. The early history of oviraptorosaur paleontology is characterized by taxonomic confusion due to the unusual characteristics of these dinosaurs. When initially described in 1924 Oviraptor itself was thought to be a member of the Ornithomimidae, popularly known as the "ostrich" dinosaurs, because both taxa share toothless beaks. Early caenagnathid oviraptorosaur discoveries like Caenagnathus itself were also incorrectly classified at the time, having been misidentified as birds.
This timeline of hadrosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the hadrosauroids, a group of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaurs popularly known as the duck-billed dinosaurs. Scientific research on hadrosaurs began in the 1850s, when Joseph Leidy described the genera Thespesius and Trachodon based on scrappy fossils discovered in the western United States. Just two years later he published a description of the much better-preserved remains of an animal from New Jersey that he named Hadrosaurus.
Ischioceratops is an extinct genus of small herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur that lived approximately 69 million years ago during the latter part of the Cretaceous Period in what is now China.
Laiyangosaurus is a genus of saurolophine hadrosaurid from the Late Cretaceous Jingangkou Formation of China. It is known from one species, L.youngi, found in the Laiyang Basin within the province of Shandong.
Sinankylosaurus is a genus of dinosaur, originally described as an ankylosaur, from the Late Cretaceous Hongtuya Formation of Shandong, China. The genus contains a single species, Sinankylosaurus zhuchengensis, known from a nearly complete right ilium. The describers claim that the discovery of Sinankylosaurus further demonstrates the similarity between dinosaurs of eastern Asia and western North America.
Sinocephale is a genus of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur that lived in Inner Mongolia, China during the Cretaceous period. The only species, Sinocephale bexelli, was originally named as a species of the genus Troodon in 1953, and later transferred to the genus Stegoceras. After decades of being considered dubious, it was re-evaluated in 2021 and recognized as a valid taxon, being given a unique generic name. The original holotype was lost, with modern research conducted using rediscovered plaster casts. Scant material makes for limited knowledge of its life appearance, but it is distinguished by an embayment on the back of the domed skull, which would give it a heart shape as seen from above. It is potentially the oldest known pachycephalosaurid and falls within the subset of the family called Pachycephalosaurinae, related to animals such as Pachycephalosaurus and Prenocephale. The geologic context of the species has been historically unclear but it is currently thought to originate in rocks belonging to the Ulansuhai Formation.
The Jiangjunding Formation is a geological formation in Shandong, China whose strata date back to the Campanian-Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the group.