Tianchisaurus

Taxobox
name = "Tianchisaurus"
fossil_range = Middle Jurassic
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Ornithischia
subordo = Thyreophora
infraordo = Ankylosauria
familia = Ankylosauridae?
genus = "Tianchisaurus"
genus_authority = Dong, 1993
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"T. nedegoapeferima" Dong, 1993 (type)

"Tianchisaurus" (meaning "heavenly pool lizard") is a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur from the middle Jurassic Period (Bajocian-Bathonian stages) of China. If it actually belongs to the family Ankylosauridae as proposed by Dong Zhiming, it would be the earliest member of that family. Unlike other ankylosaurids, it lacked a bony club at the tip of its tail.

The type specimen was informally referred to as "Jurassosaurus" after the 1993 film "Jurassic Park", and the binomial "T. nedegoapeferima" is formed from the surnames of the film's main stars: Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sir Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Ariana Richards, and Joseph Mazzello. Director Steven Spielberg, who has funded Chinese dinosaur research, proposed the name. Dong Zhiming ultimately discarded the genus name "Jurassosaurus" (which is now a "nomen nudum") in favor of "Tianchisaurus", but retained the species name honoring the actors.

References

* Dong, Z. (1993). "An ankylosaur (ornithischian dinosaur) from the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin, China." "Vertebrata Palasiatica" 31:258-264.

External links

* [http://www.dinoruss.com/de_4/5a77cef.htm "Tianchisaurus"] in the Dinosaur Encyclopedia