Open Paleo

Datai

Xing et al., 2024 DAH-tai

A composite of the final characters of the Chinese words 'tongda' (meaning 'to understand' or 'to be sensible') and 'antai' (meaning 'stable'); the specific name yingliangis honors the Yingliang Group.

100.5–89.8 million years ago Cenomanian–Turonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Datai is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Zhoutian Formation of Jiangxi Province, China. The genus contains a single species, D. yingliangis, which is known from the articulated skulls and partial skeletons of two individuals.

Diagnosis

  1. Dual jugal/quadratojugal horns on the skull cheek region, unique among ankylosaurines
  2. Protruded premaxilla with prenarial portion longer anteroposteriorly than the infranarial portion
  3. Distinct postfrontal caputegulum forming open sutures with squamosal, parietal, and surrounding caputegulae
  4. Parasagittally projecting squamosal horn
  5. Polygonal, monotypic gular osteoderms covering the intermandibular region and entire throat

Species

Datai yingliangis Xing et al., 2024

Type species

Named in recognition of the Yingliang Group, whose Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum houses the holotype specimens.

Holotype
YLSNHM 01002 , Yinliang Stone Natural History Museum
Material
Skull, anterior presacral series, ribs, distal caudal vertebrae, pectoral girdles, left forelimb, partial left ilium, distal right femur, trunk osteoderms
Horizon
upper Zhoutian Formation, Cenomanian–Turonian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–89.8 million years ago
Locality
Mazhou, Jiangxi, China Xing and colleagues (2024) give the horizon as "Turonian–early Coniacian; Upper Cretaceous; 96–90 Ma". On the ICS chart v2024/12, 96 Ma is Cenomanian and 90 Ma Turonian, so the figures do not match the stage label, and the specimen takes the Cenomanian–Turonian of the formation.

References

  1. Xing, L.; Niu, K.; Mallon, J.; Miyashita, T. (2024). A new armored dinosaur with double cheek horns from the early Late Cretaceous of southeastern China. Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology 11. University of Alberta Libraries. doi:10.18435/vamp29396

    Erects the genus from the upper Zhoutian Formation at Mazhou, Huichang County.

    xing2024a