''Sinankylosaurus'' (meaning "Chinese fused lizard") is a dubious

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s, originally described as an

ankylosaur Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the clade Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful l ...

, from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

Hongtuya Formation of

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

, China. The genus contains a single species, ''Sinankylosaurus zhuchengensis'', known from a nearly complete right ilium.

Discovery and naming

The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

specimen, ZJZ-183, was discovered in the Hongtuya Formation (

Wangshi Group The Wangshi Group () is a geological Group in Shandong, China whose strata date back to the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, approximately . Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the group.Weishampel et al., 2 ...

) in Zhucheng,

Shandong Province Shandong is a coastal province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural and religious center ...

, China. The fossil, a partial right ilium, was described in 2020 as belonging to an ankylosaur of uncertain affinities. In a 2021 publication, Zheng et al. deemed ''Sinankylosaurus'' a ''

nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium,'' it may be impossible to determine whether a ...

'' with no anatomical characters uniting it with the Ankylosauria.

Paleoecology

''Sinankylosaurus'' is known from the Hongtuya Formation, part of the Wangshi Group of southern China. Other dinosaurs from this group include

ceratopsia Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Ancient Greek, Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivore, herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Asia and Europe, during the Cretaceous Period (geology), Period, although ance ...

ns ('' Ischioceratops'', '' Sinoceratops'', and ''

Zhuchengceratops ''Zhuchengceratops'' is a genus of extinct leptoceratopsid ceratopsian that lived during the Upper Cretaceous of modern-day China. It was first described in 2010, by Xu ''et al.'', who created the binomial ''Zhuchengceratops inexpectus''. The ...

''), the large

hadrosaurid Hadrosaurids (), also hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod fami ...

Shantungosaurus ''Shantungosaurus'' (meaning "''Shandong Lizard''") is a genus of very large saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaur found in the Late Cretaceous Wangshi Group of the Shandong Peninsula in China, containing a single species, ''Shantungosaurus gigante ...

'', the

titanosaur Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still thr ...

'' Zhuchengtitan'', the

tyrannosaurid Tyrannosauridae (or tyrannosaurids, meaning "tyrant lizards") is a family of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that comprises two subfamilies containing up to fifteen genera, including the eponymous ''Tyrannosaurus''. The exact number of genera ...

Zhuchengtyrannus ''Zhuchengtyrannus'' (meaning "Zhucheng tyrant") is a genus of Tyrannosauridae, tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur known from the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous of Shandong Province, China. It belongs to the subfamily Tyrannosaurinae, and co ...

'', and the

oviraptorosaur Oviraptorosaurs ("egg thief lizards") are a group of feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period of what are now Asia and North America. They are distinct for their characteristically short, beaked, parrot-like skulls, with or wi ...

'' Anomalipes''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q98380891 Ankylosauria Dinosaur genera Campanian dinosaurs Fossil taxa described in 2020 Dinosaurs of China