''Gobisaurus'' is an
extinct genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of herbivorous basal
ankylosaurid
Ankylosauridae () is a family of armored dinosaurs within Ankylosauria, and is the sister group to Nodosauridae. The oldest known Ankylosaurids date to around 122 million years ago and went extinct 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous–Pal ...
ankylosaur
Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order 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 limbs. ...
from the Upper
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
(and possibly also the Lower Cretaceous) of
China (''
Nei Mongol
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
Zizhiqu''). The
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
is
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
, containing only the species ''Gobisaurus domoculus''.
Discovery and naming
The Sino-Soviet Expeditions (1959–1960) discovered an ankylosaurian skeleton in the
Gobi Desert
The Gobi Desert ( Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world.
Geography
The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast ...
of
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for ...
near
Moartu, in the region of the
Alashan Desert Alashan ( mn, Alaša, People's Republic of China, PRC romanization: Alxa) may refer to:
*Helan Mountains, a mountain range in northern China, between Ningxia and Inner Mongolia's Alxa League
*Alxa League, a prefecture-level division of Inner Mongol ...
. The find was largely neglected until fossils were selected for a travelling exhibition touring the globe between 1990 and 1997, in the context of the
China-Canada Dinosaur Project
The China-Canada Dinosaur Project ( Chinese: 中国-加拿大恐龙计划; Pinyin: ''Zhōngguó-jiānádà kǒnglóng jìhuà''; also known as ''Sino-Canadian Dinosaur Project'') was a six-year series of palaeontological expeditions carried out ...
. The postcranial skeleton could not be located but the skull was displayed, informally labelled "Gobisaurus", at the time a ''
nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate des ...
''.
In
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...
, Matthew K. Vickaryous, Anthony P. Russell,
Philip John Currie
Philip John Currie (born March 13, 1949) is a Canadian palaeontologist and museum curator who helped found the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta and is now a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. In the ...
and
Zhao Xijin
Zhao Xijin (赵喜进; born c. 1935 died July 21, 2012) was a Chinese paleontologist notable for having named numerous dinosaurs. He was a professor at Beijing's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.
Biography
Zhao Xijin was ...
named and described the
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...
''Gobisaurus domoculus''. The generic name means "Gobi (Desert) lizard," referring to its provenance. The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
means "hidden from view" in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
, referring to its being overlooked for three decades.
[Matthew K. Vickaryous, Anthony P. Russell, Philip J. Currie, and Xi-Jin Zhao. 2001. "A new ankylosaurid (Dinosauria: Ankylosauria) from the Lower Cretaceous of China, with comments on ankylosaurian relationships". ''Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences''/''Revue canadienne des sciences de la Terre'' 38(12): 1767-1780 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e01-051]
The
holotype
A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...
, IVPP V12563, was found in a layer of the
Ulansuhai Formation
The Ulansuhai Formation () is a geological formation in Inner Mongolia, north China. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Cretaceous, As ...
. In 2001, an
Aptian
The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ag ...
age was presumed but later studies indicate it dated from the younger
Turonian
The Turonian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the second age in the Late Cretaceous Epoch, or a stage in the Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 93.9 ± 0.8 Ma and 89.8 ± 1 Ma (million years ago). The Turonian is preceded ...
. It consists of a skull and the as yet undescribed postcranial remains.
In 2014,
Victoria Arbour
Victoria Megan Arbour is a Canadian evolutionary biologist and Vertebrate paleontology, vertebrate palaeontologist at Royal British Columbia Museum, Royal BC Museum, where she is Curator of Palaeontology. An "expert on the armoured dinosaurs know ...
concluded that ''
Zhongyuansaurus
''Zhongyuansaurus'' (meaning “Zhongyuan lizard”) is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from Henan that lived during the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian, ~125.0-100.5 Ma) in what is now the Haoling Formation. ''Zhongyuansaurus '' ...
'', the
type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...
of which, HGM 41HIII-0002, includes extensive postcranial remains, was a possible
junior synonym of ''Gobisaurus''.
[Arbour, Victoria Megan, 2014. ''Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs''. Ph.D thesis, University of Alberta]
Description

''Gobisaurus'' is a large ankylosaurian. In 2010,
Gregory S. Paul
Gregory Scott Paul (born December 24, 1954) is an American freelance researcher, author and illustrator who works in paleontology, and more recently has examined sociology and theology. He is best known for his work and research on theropod dino ...
estimated its body length at six metres, its weight at 3.5 tonnes.
[Paul, G. S., 2010, ''The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs'', Princeton University Press p. 229] The skull measured in length and across.
[Vickaryous M.K., Maryańska T., Weishampel D.B., 2004, "Ankylosauria". Chapter 17 in: Weishampel D.B., Dodson P., Osmólska H., editors. ''The Dinosauria''. 2nd ed. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press. p. 363–392]
''Gobisaurus domoculus'' shares many
cranial
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...
similarities with ''
Shamosaurus
''Shamosaurus'' is an extinct genus of herbivorous basal ankylosaurid ankylosaur from Early Cretaceous (Aptian to Albian stage) deposits of Höövör, Mongolia.
Discovery and naming
In 1977, a Soviet-Mongolian expedition discovered the skelet ...
scutatus'', including a rounded squamosal, short squamosal horns, low supraorbital bosses, large
elliptical
Elliptical may mean:
* having the shape of an ellipse, or more broadly, any oval shape
** in botany, having an elliptic leaf shape
** of aircraft wings, having an elliptical planform
* characterised by ellipsis (the omission of words), or by con ...
orbital fenestrae
The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
and external
nares (oval eye sockets and nostrils), the cross-section of the eye sockets being about a fifth of skull length, a
deltoid Deltoid (delta-shaped) can refer to:
* The deltoid muscle, a muscle in the shoulder
* Kite (geometry), also known as a deltoid, a type of quadrilateral
* A deltoid curve, a three-cusped hypocycloid
* A leaf shape
* The deltoid tuberosity, a part o ...
dorsal
Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to:
* Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism
* Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage
* Dorsal co ...
profile with a narrow
rostrum
Rostrum may refer to:
* Any kind of a platform for a speaker:
**dais
**pulpit
* Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects
* Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships
* Ros ...
(a narrow, kite-shaped, snout in top view), quadratojugal protuberances (cheek horns), and caudolaterally directed paroccipital processes (extensions of the rear skull pointing to behind and sideways). But the two
taxa
In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...
may be distinguished by differences in the length of the maxillary tooth row (26,6% instead of 40% of total skull length with ''Gobisaurus''), an unfused basipterygoid-pterygoid process in ''Gobisaurus'', the front of the pterygoid being in e vertical position, the presence on an elongate vomerine premaxillary process in ''Gobisaurus'', and the presence of cranial sculpting in ''Shamosaurus'', but not in ''Gobisaurus''.
[ This latter difference was denied by Arbour who concluded that the degree of sculpting was roughly the same.]
The external nostrils had about 23% of skull length.
Phylogeny
''Gobisaurus'' was placed in the Ankylosauridae
Ankylosauridae () is a family of armored dinosaurs within Ankylosauria, and is the sister group to Nodosauridae. The oldest known Ankylosaurids date to around 122 million years ago and went extinct 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous–P ...
in 2001. Vickaryous et al., 2004 found that a clade formed by ''Shamosaurus'' and ''Gobisaurus'' is "nested deep within the ankylosaurid lineage as the first successive outgroup Outgroup may refer to:
* Outgroup (cladistics), an evolutionary-history concept
* Outgroup (sociology)
In sociology and social psychology, an in-group is a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member. By contras ...
to (the subfamily) Ankylosaurinae".[
Other analyses find a more basal position as the ]sister species
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and ...
of ''Shamosaurus''. Concluding that ''Zhongyuansaurus'' was a probable junior synonym of ''Gobisaurus'', Arbour considered it unnecessary to use the term Shamosaurinae
Ankylosauridae () is a family of armored dinosaurs within Ankylosauria, and is the sister group to Nodosauridae. The oldest known Ankylosaurids date to around 122 million years ago and went extinct 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous–Pal ...
for the clade including just ''Shamosaurus'' and ''Gobisaurus''.
See also
* Timeline of ankylosaur research
This timeline of ankylosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ankylosaurs, quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaurs who were protected by a covering bony plates and spikes and sometimes by a clu ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q134952
Ankylosaurids
Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia
Fossil taxa described in 2001
Taxa named by Philip J. Currie
Ornithischian genera