Shanxia

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Shanxia
Fossil range: Late Cretaceous

Extinct (fossil)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Ornithischia
Suborder:	Thyreophora
Infraorder:	Ankylosauria
Family:	Ankylosauridae
Genus:	Shanxia
Species:	S. tianzhenensis

Binomial name

Shanxia tianzhenensis
Barrett et al., 1998

Shanxia ("West Mountain one") was an ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived during the upper Cretaceous Period. Its fossils were recovered and named after the Shanxi Province of China, and it is known only from scrappy remains found in river deposits. Based on the relative lengths of the femur and other leg bones, it probably reached a length of around 3.6 meters (12 ft).

The most prominent feature of Shanxia, which differentiates it from other ankylosaurs, were the long and flattened triangle-shaped horns that projected backward from the squamosal bones on either side of the rear portion of its skull at an angle of 145 degrees. However, the unique shape of these horns may be due to individual variation, and a few scientists (such as Sullivan, 1999) consider Shanxia a nomen dubium, possibly synonymous with the related ankylosaurid Tianzhenosaurus.

[edit] References

Barrett, P. M., You, H., Upchurch, P. & Burton, A. C. (1998). "A new ankylosaurian dinosaur (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18 (2): 376-384.
Sullivan, R. M. (1999). "Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis, gen. et sp. nov., a new ankylosaurid dinosaur (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Kirtland Formation (Upper Campanian), San Juan Basin, New Mexico.". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19 (1): 126-139.
Upchurch, P. and Barrett, P. M. (2000). "The taxonomic status of Shanxia tianzhenensis (Ornithiscia, Ankylosauridae); a response to Sullivan (1999)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20: 216-217.