Heishansaurus

Taxobox
name = "Heishansaurus"
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Ornithischia
subordo = ?Thyreophora
infraordo = ?Ankylosauria
familia = ?Ankylosauridae
genus = "Heishansaurus"
genus_authority = Bohlin, 1953
species = "H. pachycephalus"
binomial = "Heishansaurus pachycephalus"
binomial_authority = Bohlin, 1953

"Heishansaurus", meaning "Heishan lizard" after the area in China where it was discovered, is the name given to a dubious genus of dinosaur. First described in 1953 as a pachycephalosaur, this dinosaur may actually be an ankylosaur. The fossils, dating from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian or Maastrichtian stage), are fragmentary, and the genus is considered a "nomen dubium". The type (and only known) specimen is "Heishansaurus pachycephalus" ("pachycephalus" means "thick-headed").

Fossils

The material consists of poorly preserved cranial and postcranial fragments plus some dermal scutes. They were found in the Minhe Formation, near Heishan (= "Black Mountain"), Gansu Province, China.

References

*Fossil reptiles from Mongolia and Kansu. Bohlin, B. "Report of the Scientific Expedition to northwest China", Publ. 37 (6); 1-105 (1953).
*A taxonomic review of the Pachycephalosauridae (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). Sullivan, R. "Late Cretaceous vertebrates from the Western Interior". Lucas et al (eds), New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 35; 347-365 (2006).