Open Paleo

Heishansaurus

Bohlin, 1953 hay-SHAHN-SAWR-us Nomen dubium

Named after Heishan (Black Mountains) in Gansu Province, China, combined with Greek sauros (lizard); meaning 'Heishan lizard'

125.8–100.5 million years ago Barremian–Albian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Heishansaurus, meaning "Heishan lizard" after the area in China where it was discovered, is the name given to a dubious genus of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaur, probably belonging to the Ankylosauridae.

Species

Heishansaurus pachycephalus Bohlin, 1953 Nomen dubium

Type species

From Ancient Greek 'pachys' meaning 'thick' and 'kephale' meaning 'head', meaning 'thick-headed', inspired by Bohlin's identification of the taxon as a pachycephalosaur.

Holotype
Not catalogued (lost)
Material
Remains of skull, skeleton, and dermal armor of one individual (Bohlin's field designation "Field nr 60"); original material now lost. A cast of one vertebra survives at the AMNH.
Horizon
Xinminpu Group, Barremian–Albian, Early Cretaceous , 125.8–100.5 million years ago
Locality
Chia-yü-kuan, Gansu, China Bohlin (1953) places the holotype northwest of Chia-yu-kuan and names no unit for it. Dong (2002) assigns the locality to the Early Cretaceous Xinminpu Group, while Weishampel and colleagues (2004) give the Minhe Formation and a Campanian–Maastrichtian age on a personal communication.

References

  1. Bohlin, B. (1953). VI. Vertebrate Palaeontology 6. Fossil reptiles from Mongolia and Kansu. Reports from the Scientific Expedition to the North-western Provinces of China under Leadership of Dr. Sven Hedin. The Sino-Swedish Expedition Publication 37: 1-113. bohlin1953a
  2. 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

    Assessed Heishansaurus as an undiagnosable nomen dubium.

    arbour2015a
  3. Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H. (eds.) (2004). The Dinosauria, Second Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley. weishampel2004a
  4. Dong, Z. (2002). A new armored dinosaur (Ankylosauria) from Beipiao Basin, Liaoning Province, northeastern China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 40(4): 276-285. dong2002a