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Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus

Reptilia - Therizinosauridae

Taxonomy
Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus was named by Dong (1979). Its type specimen is NIGP V.4731, a set of postcrania, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Dapingcun, IVPP Loc. 74015, which is in a Maastrichtian terrestrial horizon in the Yuanpu Formation of China. It is the type species of Nanshiungosaurus.

Synonymy list
YearName and author
1979Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Dong p. 343 figs. Pl. 2:1
1986Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Guan p. 35
1986Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Zhao p. 71
1992Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Currie p. 243
1992Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Dong p. 167
1994Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Russell and Dong p. 2108
2002Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Xu et al. p. 235
2003Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Rauhut p. 41
2004Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Clark et al. p. 152
2007Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Li et al. p. 542
2008Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Li et al. p. 775
2009Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Zanno et al. p. S15
2010Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Zanno p. 208
2012Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Qian et al. p. 340
2013Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus Pu et al.

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
Bilateria
EubilateriaAx 1987
Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
Tetrapoda
Reptiliomorpha
Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
Cotylosauria()
Amniota
Sauropsida
classReptilia
subclassEureptilia()
Romeriida
Diapsida()
RankNameAuthor
Archosauromorpha(Huene 1946)
Crocopoda
ArchosauriformesGauthier 1986
Eucrocopoda
Archosauria()
informalAvemetatarsalia
Ornithodira
Dinosauromorpha
Dinosauriformes
Dinosauria()
Theropoda()
Neotheropoda
AverostraPaul 2002
Tetanurae
Coelurosauria()
Maniraptoriformes
TherizinosauriaRussell 1997
superfamilyTherizinosauroidea
familyTherizinosauridae
genusNanshiungosaurus
speciesbrevispinus

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.

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Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
L. E. Zanno 2010Lacking access to the holotype vertebrae and without preservation of the distal pubis and ischium, Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus is difficult to diagnose. The diagnosis provided by Dong (1979) was based on the assignment of N. brevispinus to Titanosaurinae. This misidentification combined with the discovery of other derived therizinosaurian taxa renders Dong’s (1979, p. 343) differentiae undiagnostic: “short neck with platycoelous cranial cervicals, pleurocoels undeveloped, neural spines low, and caudal series not distinctly bifid; 12 cervical vertebrae with centrum length 2.5 times that of dorsal centra; ten dorsal vertebrae with platycoelous centra of equivalent height and length and shallow pleurocoels; neural spines low and transversely broadened with a broad apex; five fused sacral centra with short unified neural spines, inflated apices, and saddle-shaped depressions; ilium low with extremely well-developed narrow and elongated preacetabular process; pubic peduncle of ilium straight and robust; pubis linear with thick lateral margin and closed obturator foramen; ischium thinly plate-shaped with expansive and fused distal ends; acetabulum large and circular”. A single feature from the original diagnosis – opisthocoelous caudal cervical centra – is retained here as a potential autapomorphy, as it is undocumented in other therizinosaurians.
The reconstruction of the pubis and ischium provided by Dong (1979, p. 345) is likely to be incorrect in that it portrays the ischium terminating at the obturator process rather than extending beyond, as in all other therizinosaurians.