Open Paleo

Qinlingosaurus

Xue et al., 1996 chin-ling-o-SAWR-us

Named after the Qinling mountain range of Shaanxi Province, China, where the first fossils were recovered, combined with Greek 'sauros' (lizard).

Qinlingosaurus is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Asia.

Diagnosis

  1. Iliac blade thin, anteroposteriorly long and dorsoventrally low, rhomboidal in outline, with both ends strongly curved laterally
  2. Pubic peduncle positioned near the center of the lower margin of the iliac blade, long, robust, and approximately semicylindrical
  3. Medial surface of the iliac blade bearing a well-developed longitudinal ridge descending toward the pubic peduncle
  4. Wide, gently arcing gap between the pubic and ischial peduncles, producing an unusually wide, large acetabulum
  5. Sacral vertebrae with transverse processes that bifurcate into upper and lower wedge-shaped branches and neural ridges that bifurcate vertically

Species

Qinlingosaurus luonanensis Xue et al., 1996

Type species

Named for Luonan County in Shaanxi Province, China, near where the holotype was discovered.

Holotype
NWUV 1112 , Northwest University
Material
A complete right ilium, an incomplete distal ischium, and three sacral vertebrae.
Horizon
Hongtuling Formation, Late Cretaceous
Locality
Hongtuling, Shaanxi, China Xue and colleagues (1996) give "Hongtuling, Luonan, Shaanxi; Upper Cretaceous Hongtuling Formation", with no stage. Weishampel and colleagues (2004) list it in the Shanyang Formation fauna, against that horizon, and give that fauna only a Late Cretaceous age.

References

  1. Xue, X.; Zhang, Y.; Bi, Y.; Yue, L.; Chen, D. (1996). The development and environmental changes of the intermontane basins in the eastern part of Qinling Mountains. Geological Publishing House, Beijing. xue1996a
  2. Weishampel, D. B.; Barrett, P. M.; Coria, R. A.; Le Loeuff, J.; Xu, X.; Zhao, X.; Sahni, A.; Gomani, E. M. P.; Noto, C. R. (2004). Dinosaur distribution. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 517-606. University of California Press, Berkeley. doi:10.1525/california/9780520242098.003.0027

    Lists Qinlingosaurus under the Shanyang Formation fauna, at "Late Cretaceous".

    weishampel2004b