Open Paleo

Shamosaurinae

Tumanova, 1983 Type genus Shamosaurus

Its genera lived 121.4–100.5 million years ago Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Shamosaurinae is a basal subfamily of ankylosaurid dinosaurs, the heavily armored, quadrupedal herbivores of the Cretaceous. It is defined as the group containing Gobisaurus and Shamosaurus but excluding the more derived Ankylosaurus (Madzia and colleagues, 2021), and is recognized only when those two Asian genera form a clade to the exclusion of the ankylosaurines. As early-diverging members near the base of the family, its genera retain a comparatively long, lightly ornamented skull and lack the fully developed tail club that distinguishes their later ankylosaurid relatives.

Diagnosis

  1. Premaxillary furrow on the anterior palate
  2. Elongate skull relative to derived ankylosaurines
  3. Less extensive cranial caputegular ornamentation

Genera placed directly in Shamosaurinae

  • Gobisaurus Vickaryous et al., 2001 Aptian–Albian (121.4–100.5 Ma)China
  • Shamosaurus Tumanova, 1983 Aptian–Albian (121.4–100.5 Ma)Mongolia
  • Zhongyuansaurus Disputed Xu et al., 2007 Aptian–Albian (121.4–100.5 Ma)China

References

  1. Tumanova, T. A. (1983). Pervyy ankilozavr iz nizhnego mela Mongolii [The first ankylosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia]. Iskopayemyye reptilii Mongolii [Fossil Reptiles of Mongolia] (Tatarinov, L. P.; Barsbold, R.; Vorobyeva, E.; Luvsandanzan, B.; Trofimov, B. A.; Reshetov, Yu. A.; Shishkin, M. A., eds.) 24: 110-118.

    Named Shamosaurus and diagnosed the subfamily Shamosaurinae, in which it placed Shamosaurus with Saichania.

    tumanova1983a
  2. Madzia, D.; Arbour, V. M.; Boyd, C. A.; Farke, A. A.; Cruzado-Caballero, P.; Evans, D. C. (2021). The phylogenetic nomenclature of ornithischian dinosaurs. PeerJ 9: e12362. doi:10.7717/peerj.12362

    Defined Shamosaurinae as the largest clade containing Gobisaurus domoculus and Shamosaurus scutatus but not Ankylosaurus magniventris.

    madzia2021a
  3. Arbour, V. M.; Currie, P. J. (2015). Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 14(5): 385-444. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2015.1059985

    Recovered Shamosaurinae (Gobisaurus + Shamosaurus) as sister to Ankylosaurinae.

    arbour2015a