Wannanosaurus

Taxobox
name = "Wannanosaurus"
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Ornithischia
subordo = Cerapoda
infraordo = Pachycephalosauria
genus = "Wannanosaurus"
genus_authority=Hou, 1977
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"W. yansiensis" Hou, 1977 (type)

"Wannanosaurus" (meaning "Wannano lizard", named after the location where it was discovered) is a genus of basal pachycephalosaurian dinosaur from the Campanian-age Upper Cretaceous Xiaoyan Formation, about 80 million years ago (mya) in what is now Anhui, China. The type species, "Wannanosaurus yansiensis", was described by Lian-Hai Hou in 1977.cite journal |author=Hou Lian-Hai |year=1977 |title=A new primitive Pachycephalosauria from Anhui, China |journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=198–202 ]

It is known from a single partial skeleton, including a partial skull roof and lower jaw, an upper leg and lower leg, part of a rib, and other fragments. Because it has a flat skull roof with large openings, it has been considered primitive among pachycephalosaurs.cite journal |author=Hou Lian-Hai |year=1977 |title=A new primitive Pachycephalosauria from Anhui, China |journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=198–202 ] cite book |last=Maryańska |first=Teresa |coauthors=Chapman, Ralph E.; and Weishampel, David B. |editor=Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.)|title=The Dinosauria |edition=2nd |year= 2004|publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=0-520-24209-2 |pages=464-477 |chapter=Pachycephalosauria ] Sometimes it has been classified as a member of the now-deprecated family Homalocephalidae,cite journal |last=Sues |first=Hans-Dieter |coauthors=Galton, Peter M. |year=1987 |title=Anatomy and classification of the North American Pachycephalosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) |journal=Palaeontographica Abteilung A |volume=198 |issue=1-3 |pages=1–40 ] cite book |last=Carroll |first=Robert L. |title=Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution |year=1988 |publisher=W.H. Freeman and Company |isbn=0716718227 ] now thought to be an unnatural assembly of pachycephalosaurians without domed skulls.

Although its remains are from a very small individual, with a femur length of ~8 centimeters (3.1 in) and an estimated overall length of less than 1 meter (3.3 ft), the fused bones in its skull suggest that it was an adult at death.cite book |last=Maryańska |first=Teresa |editor= Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.)|title=The Dinosauria |edition=1st |year=1990 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=0-520-06727-4 |pages=564-577 |chapter=Pachycephalosauria ] Like other pachycephalosaurians, it was probably herbivorous or omnivorous, feeding close to the ground on a variety of plant matter, and possibly insects as well.

References

External links

* [http://www.dinodictionary.com/dinos_wz.asp Dinodictionary web site]