PBDB Taxon

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Saichania

Reptilia - Ankylosauridae

Taxonomy

Saichania was named by Maryanska (1977). It was considered monophyletic by Vickaryous et al. (2004).

It was assigned to Shamosaurinae by Tumanova (1983); to Syrmosaurinae by Ford (2000); to Ankylosauridae by Maryanska (1977), Galton (1983), Kielan-Jaworowska (1984), Coombs (1986), Carroll (1988), Barsbold (1997), Kirkland (1998), Tumanova (2000), Carpenter (2001), Barrett (2001), Pereda Suberbiola and Galton (2001), Lü et al. (2007), Carpenter et al. (2008), Osi and Makádi (2009), Parsons and Parsons (2009), Longrich et al. (2010), Arbour et al. (2014) and Blows (2014); and to Ankylosaurinae by Sereno (1986), Tumanova (1987), Vickaryous et al. (2001), Vickaryous et al. (2004), Carpenter et al. (2011), Han et al. (2014), Arbour et al. (2014), Arbour and Currie (2016), Yang et al. (2017) and Penkalski and Tumanova (2017).

Species

S. chulsanensis (syn. Shanxia tianzhenensis, Tianzhenosaurus youngi)

Synonyms

Shanxia was named by Barrett et al. (1998). Its type is Shanxia tianzhenensis.

It was synonymized subjectively with Tianzhenosaurus by Lü et al. (2007); it was considered a nomen dubium by Sullivan (2000); it was considered a nomen dubium by Carpenter (2001) and Vickaryous et al. (2004); it was synonymized subjectively with Saichania by Arbour and Currie (2016).

It was assigned to Syrmosaurinae by Ford (2000); to Ankylosauridae by Barrett et al. (1998), Upchurch and Barrett (2000) and Vickaryous et al. (2001); and to Ankylosaurinae by Han et al. (2014).
Tianzhenosaurus was named by Pang and Cheng (1998). It was considered monophyletic by Vickaryous et al. (2004).

It was synonymized subjectively with Saichania by Carpenter (2001) and Arbour and Currie (2016).

It was assigned to Syrmosaurinae by Ford (2000); to Ankylosaurinae by Vickaryous et al. (2001), Vickaryous et al. (2004) and Han et al. (2014); and to Ankylosauridae by Pang and Cheng (1998), Upchurch and Barrett (2000), Lü et al. (2007), Lü et al. (2007), Parsons and Parsons (2009) and Arbour et al. (2014).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1977	Saichania Maryanska pp. 98, 103
1983	Saichania Galton p. 6
1983	Saichania Tumanova
1984	Saichania Kielan-Jaworowska p. 105
1986	Saichania Coombs, Jr. p. 162
1986	Saichania Sereno
1987	Saichania Tumanova p. 19
1988	Saichania Carroll
1997	Saichania Barsbold p. 450
1998	Shanxia Barrett et al. p. 376 figs. 2. 4-8
1998	Saichania Kirkland p. 273 fig. 3
1998	Tianzhenosaurus Pang and Cheng p. 326
2000	Saichania Ford p. 176
2000	Shanxia Ford p. 176
2000	Tianzhenosaurus Ford p. 176
2000	Saichania Tumanova p. 527
2000	Shanxia Upchurch and Barrett pp. 216-217
2000	Tianzhenosaurus Upchurch and Barrett pp. 216-217
2001	Saichania Barrett p. 41
2001	Saichania Carpenter p. 457
2001	Saichania Pereda Suberbiola and Galton pp. 199-200
2001	Saichania Vickaryous et al. p. 1774
2001	Shanxia Vickaryous et al. p. 1774
2001	Tianzhenosaurus Vickaryous et al. p. 1774
2004	Saichania Vickaryous et al. p. 364
2004	Tianzhenosaurus Vickaryous et al. p. 364
2007	Saichania Lü et al. p. 889 fig. 1
2007	Tianzhenosaurus Lü et al. p. 889 fig. 1
2007	Tianzhenosaurus Lü et al. p. 349
2008	Saichania Carpenter et al. p. 1099
2009	Saichania Osi and Makádi p. 239 fig. 10
2009	Saichania Parsons and Parsons p. 736 fig. 18
2009	Tianzhenosaurus Parsons and Parsons p. 736 fig. 18
2010	Saichania Longrich et al. p. 955
2011	Saichania Carpenter et al. p. 33
2014	Saichania Arbour et al. p. 11 fig. 6
2014	Saichania Arbour et al. p. 638
2014	Tianzhenosaurus Arbour et al. p. 648
2014	Saichania Blows p. 60
2014	Saichania Han et al. p. 14 fig. 11
2014	Shanxia Han et al. p. 14 fig. 11
2014	Tianzhenosaurus Han et al. p. 14 fig. 11
2016	Saichania Arbour and Currie p. 412
2017	Saichania Penkalski and Tumanova
2017	Saichania Yang et al. p. 786 fig. 5

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
subclass	Eureptilia	()

Rank	Name	Author
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
—	Archosauromorpha	(Huene 1946)
—	Crocopoda
—	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
—	Eucrocopoda
—	Archosauria	()
informal	Avemetatarsalia
—	Ornithodira
—	Dinosauromorpha
—	Dinosauriformes
—	Dinosauria	()
—	Ornithischia	()
—	Genasauria
—	Thyreophora	()
—	Ankylosauria	()
family	Ankylosauridae
subfamily	Ankylosaurinae	Nopcsa 1918
genus	Saichania

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Saichania Maryanska 1977

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†Saichania chulsanensis Maryanska 1977

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Invalid names: Shanxia tianzhenensis Barrett et al. 1998 [synonym], Tianzhenosaurus youngi Pang and Cheng 1998 [synonym]

Invalid names: Shanxia Barrett et al. 1998 [synonym], Tianzhenosaurus Pang and Cheng 1998 [synonym]

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
T. A. Tumanova 1987	Large ankylosaurid with distinctly isolated osteodermal plates on skull roof, spine-shaped postorbital osteoderms; nostrils large, terminally located, separated by horizontal partitions dorsally in the true respiratory canal from ventromedial canal leading into the premaxillary sinus; premaxillary beak is oval shaped, width equal to space between last maxillary teeth; palate with well developed anterior and posterior maxillary shelves; medial section of anterior wall of the pterygoids inclined forwards; plane of occiput perpendicular to plane of skull roof; paroccipital processes low, upper part perpendicular to skull roof, lower part inclined forwards; occipital condyle wide oval, slightly convex; articular surface inclined vertically; quadrate and paroccipital process fused; maxillary condyle of quadrate at level of central part of orbits; ossification of anterior and posterior walls of orbits; basioccipital has no sharply defined relief; fenestra ovalis fused with jugular foramen.

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

hydroxyapatiteo

Entire body:

yesg

Adult length:

10 to < 100o

Adult width:

1.0 to < 10o

Adult height:

1.0 to < 10o

Maximum body mass:

3000 kgg

Minimum body mass:

1000 kgg

Architecture:

compact or denseo

Ontogeny:

accretion, modification of partso

Grouping:

gregariouso

Environment:

terrestrialo

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

ground dwellingo

Diet:

herbivoreo

Reproduction:

oviparouso

Dispersal:

direct/internalo

Dispersal 2:

mobileo

Created:

2005-08-25 06:06:33

Modified:

2005-08-25 08:06:33

Source: g = genus, o = order

References: Peczkis 1995, Marsh 1875

Age range: base of the Middle Campanian to the top of the Campanian or 83.50000 to 72.10000 Ma

Collections (5 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Cenomanian - Campanian	100.5 - 72.1	China (Shanxi)	Ankylosauridae indet. (45408) Shanxia tianzhenensis (51907)
Middle Campanian - Late/Upper Campanian	83.5 - 70.6	Mongolia (Omnogov)	Ankylosauridae indet. (28243 181420) S. chulsanensis (11582)