Huaxiazhoulong
Combines the Chinese words 'Huaxia' (an ancient name for China), 'zhou' meaning 'armor', and 'long' meaning 'dragon'; the specific name shouwen is Chinese pinyin for 'painted in the shape of a beast'.
Late Cretaceous stages
Huaxiazhoulong is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Tangbian Formation of Jiangxi Province, China. The genus contains a single species, H. shouwen, known from a partial skeleton.
Diagnosis
- Middle shaft and distal end of ischium are expanded
- Ratio of width of distal end to minimum shaft width greater than 3 in humerus
- Maximum femur to humerus length ratio about 1.45
- Centra of anterior caudal vertebrae in anterior view heart-shaped
- Dorsal surface of scapula is straight
- Scapulocoracoid has large medial brace exceeding scapula glenoid length
- Humeral head and deltopectoral crest separated by distinct notch anteriorly
Species
Huaxiazhoulong shouwen Zhu et al., 2025
Type species
From Chinese 'shouwen', meaning 'painted in the shape of a beast', describing the ornamentation of the ankylosaurid.
- Holotype
- JPM-N000 , Jehol Paleontological Museum
- Material
- Partial postcranial skeleton including nine dorsal vertebrae, one sacral vertebra, seventeen caudal vertebrae, two tail handle fragments and two major osteoderms, twenty-seven ribs, left scapulocoracoid, incomplete right scapulocoracoid, sternum, both humeri, ulnae and radii, three metacarpals, both ilia, ischia, femora and tibiae, four metatarsals and three isolated postcranial osteoderms
- Horizon
- Tangbian Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
- Locality
- Longxi village, Jiangxi, China
References
- Zhu, Z.; Wu, J.; You, Y.; Jia, Y.; Chen, C.; Yao, X.; Zheng, W.; Xu, X. (2025). A new ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Jiangxi Province, southern China. Historical Biology 37(12): 2783-2799. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2417208 zhu2025a