Open Paleo

Tanius

Wiman, 1929 TAHN-ee-us

Named for Chinese paleontologist Tan Xichou (H.C. Tan), who discovered the fossils; the name means 'of Tan'.

83.6–66.0 million years ago Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Tanius is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur. It lived in the Late Cretaceous of China. The type species, named and described in 1929 by Carl Wiman, is Tanius sinensis. The generic name honors the Chinese paleontologist Tan Xichou ("H.C. Tan"). The specific epithet refers to China. In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated the length of Tanius at 7 meters (23 ft) and its weight at 2 metric tons (2.2 short tons).

Diagnosis

  1. Tall dorsal neural spines, with a height to centrum height ratio of 3.2
  2. Reduced postacetabular ridge on the ilium
  3. Medial and lateral distal femoral condyles fused posteriorly to enclose the flexor tunnel
  4. Lunate profile on the proximal end of metatarsal III

Species (2)

Tanius sinensis Wiman, 1929

Type species

From Latin 'sinensis' meaning 'of China', after the country where the holotype was discovered.

Holotype
PMU 24720 , Paleontological Museum
Material
Skeleton of one individual comprising the articulated skull roof and braincase, both postorbitals and pterygoids, the left jugal, quadrate and squamosal, the axis and cervicals 3 to 10, four cervical ribs, one dorsal and one midseries caudal vertebra, a hemal arch, the right scapula and sternal plate, the left humerus, partial right ulna and radius, both ilia, the right femur, tibia and fibula, right metatarsal II, left metatarsal III, and a pedal ungual phalanx.
Notes
Wiman designated no holotype, treating the elements as a type series under separate numbers. Borinder and colleagues (2021) judged them one individual on shared provenance and anatomical fit, and the skeleton was registered under this number, its constituent bones numbered within it.
Horizon
Hongtuya Formation, Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality
about 500 m (one li) southwest of Jiangjundingcun, Shandong, China The provincial lithostratigraphy (Zhang and Liu, 1996) takes the Tianqiaotun–Jiangjunding section southwest of Laiyang as a parastratotype of the Hongtuya Formation and lists Tanius sinensis from it. Hu and colleagues (2001), Zhang and colleagues (2019) and Borinder and colleagues (2021) give the horizon as their Jiangjunding Formation.

Tanius chingkankouensis Young, 1958 Nomen dubium

Horizon
Hongtuya Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
Shandong, China Borinder and colleagues (2021) give the horizon as the Jingangkou Formation of the scheme Hu and colleagues (2001) use, beds the provincial lithostratigraphy places in the Hongtuya Formation.

References

  1. Wiman, C. (1929). Die Kreide-Dinosaurier aus Shantung [The Cretaceous dinosaurs from Shantung]. Palaeontologia Sinica, Series C 6(1): 1-67. wiman1929a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026a
  3. Borinder, N. H.; Poropat, S. F.; Campione, N. E.; Wigren, T.; Kear, B. P. (2021). Postcranial osteology of the basally branching hadrosauroid dinosaur Tanius sinensis from the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Group of Shandong, China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 41(1): e1914642. Taylor and Francis. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.1914642

    Redescribes the holotype and gives its provenance as about 500 m southwest of Jiangjundingcun, most likely from the Jiangjunding Formation.

    borinder2021a
  4. Young, C. C. (1958). The dinosaurian remains of Laiyang, Shantung. Palaeontologia Sinica, New Series C, Whole Number 142(16): 1-138.

    Names Tanius chingkankouensis on a composite of vertebrae, a sacrum, a scapula, an ilium and an ischium.

    young1958a
  5. Zhang, Z. Q.; Liu, M. W. (eds.) (1996). 山东省岩石地层 [Stratigraphy (Lithostratigraphic) of Shandong Province]. 全国地层多重划分对比研究 [Multiple Classification and Correlation of the Stratigraphy of China] 37. China University of Geosciences Press, Wuhan.

    Compiled by the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources of Shandong Province; the book names Zhang Zengqi and Liu Mingwei as its compilers (p. 7).

    zhang1996a
  6. Hu, C. Z.; Cheng, Z. W.; Pang, Q. Q.; Fang, X. S. (2001). Shantungosaurus giganteus. 1-116. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.

    Cited from the reference list of Zhang and colleagues (2019).

    hu2001a
  7. Zhang, J.; Wang, X.; Wang, Q.; Jiang, S.; Cheng, X.; Li, N.; Qiu, R. (2019). A new saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong, China. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 91(suppl 2). FapUNIFESP (SciELO). doi:10.1590/0001-3765201720160920 zhang2019a