Open Paleo

Nanningosaurus

Mo et al., 2007 nah-NING-oh-SOR-us

Refers to the city of Nanning in Guangxi, China, located close to the excavation site, combined with Greek sauros meaning 'lizard'

100.5–66.0 million years ago Cenomanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Nanningosaurus is a genus of hadrosauromorph dinosaur from the upper Late Cretaceous of the Nalong Basin, Guangxi, China.

Diagnosis

  1. Tall and sharply peaked dorsal process of the maxilla with reduced process of the jugal and distinct lacrimal facet
  2. Gracile humerus with low, rounded deltopectoral crest
  3. Mandibular condyle of the quadrate transversely broad with weakly developed paraquadrate notch
  4. Dentary tooth with sinuous median carina and subsidiary ridge
  5. Relatively few tooth positions in dental battery
  6. Ischial shaft straight along most of its distance, but curves dorsally and expands at distal end before ischial foot begins

Species

Nanningosaurus dashiensis Mo et al., 2007

Type species

From the Pinyin 'da-shi' meaning 'great stone', the name of the village near the discovery site, with the suffix '-ensis' meaning 'from'.

Holotype
NHMG 8142 , Natural History Museum of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Material
Disarticulated partial skeleton including relatively complete right and left maxillae, left dentary, left squamosal, lower portion of right quadrate, incomplete basioccipital, one isolated dentary tooth, one cervical vertebra, incomplete left scapula, incomplete left and right humeri, relatively complete left ischium, complete left femur and both tibiae.
Horizon
Cenomanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Dashi village, Guangxi, China Mo and colleagues (2007) give the horizon as "Upper Cretaceous red beds". They refer to the beds as the Nadu Formation of an earlier regional survey while rejecting that survey's Eocene age, and Dai and colleagues (2024) give the lower half of the Luowen Formation, citing regional survey work.

References

  1. Mo, J.; Zhao, Z.; Wang, W.; Xu, X. (2007). The first hadrosaurid dinosaur from southern China. Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition) 81(4): 550-554. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2007.tb00978.x

    Named Nanningosaurus and tentatively referred it to Lambeosaurinae, a placement its strict consensus does not resolve.

    mo2007a
  2. Dai, H.; Ma, Q.; Xiong, C.; Lin, Y.; Zeng, H.; Tan, C.; Wang, J.; Zhang, Y.; Xing, H. (2024). A new late-diverging non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from southwest China: Support for interchange of dinosaur faunas across East Asia during the Late Cretaceous. Cretaceous Research 166. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105995

    Places the taxon in "the late Campanian lower half of the Luowen Formation in Guangxi Province", and recovers it outside Hadrosauridae.

    dai2024a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Treats Nanningosaurus as a non-hadrosaurid hadrosauromorph.

    jones2026a
  4. Xing, H.; Wang, D.; Han, F.; Sullivan, C.; Ma, Q.; He, Y.; Hone, D. W. E.; Yan, R.; Du, F.; Xu, X. (2014). A New Basal Hadrosauroid Dinosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) with Transitional Features from the Late Cretaceous of Henan Province, China. PLoS ONE 9(6): e98821. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098821

    Recovered Nanningosaurus as a non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroid.

    xing2014a
  5. Xu, S. C.; You, H. L.; Wang, J. W.; Wang, S. Z.; Yi, J.; Jia, L. (2016). A new hadrosauroid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Tianzhen, Shanxi Province, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 54(1): 67-78.

    Reports the lambeosaurine referral as superseded by the non-hadrosaurid placement.

    xu2016a
  6. Cruzado-Caballero, P.; Powell, J. (2017). Bonapartesaurus rionegrensis, a new hadrosaurine dinosaur from South America: implications for phylogenetic and biogeographic relations with North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37(2): e1289381. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1289381

    Recovered Nanningosaurus outside Hadrosauridae, with Shuangmiaosaurus and Claosaurus.

    cruzado-caballero2017a
  7. Alarcón-Muñoz, J.; Vargas, A. O.; Püschel, H. P.; Soto-Acuña, S.; Manríquez, L.; Leppe, M.; Kaluza, J.; Milla, V.; Gutstein, C. S.; Palma-Liberona, J.; Stinnesbeck, W.; Frey, E.; Pino, J. P.; Bajor, D.; Núñez, E.; Ortiz, H.; Rubilar-Rogers, D.; Cruzado-Caballero, P. (2023). Relict duck-billed dinosaurs survived into the last age of the dinosaurs in subantarctic Chile. Science Advances 9(24). American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi:10.1126/sciadv.adg2456

    Recovered Nanningosaurus outside Hadrosauridae, after Gilmoreosaurus.

    alarcón-muñoz2023a
  8. Ma, Q.; Ma, Y.; Tan, C.; Chen, J.; Lin, Y.; Xiao, M.; Dai, H.; Wei, G.; Mallon, J. C.; Wang, J.; Yao, H.; Zou, Z.; Xing, H. (2026). First report of a hollow cranial crest in an early-diverging duck-billed dinosaur, with implications for convergent evolution of acoustic signaling. Biology 15(8): 615. MDPI AG. doi:10.3390/biology15080615

    Recovered Nanningosaurus as the sister of Hadrosauridae.

    ma2026a