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Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus

Reptilia - Ankylosauridae

Taxonomy
Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus was named by Godefroit et al. (1999). Its type specimen is IMM 96BM3/1, a skeleton (skull and articulated postcrania with in situ cervical half rings), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is SBDE Quarry 96BM3, Bayan Mandahu, which is in a Campanian eolian sandstone in the Bayan Mandahu Formation of China. It was considered monophyletic by Vickaryous et al. (2004).

Synonymy list
YearName and author
1999Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Godefroit et al. p. 20 figs. 3-4
2001Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Carpenter p. 457
2004Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Vickaryous et al. p. 364
2007Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Arbour p. 41A
2007Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Lü et al. p. 887
2008Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Godefroit et al. p. 432
2009Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Parsons and Parsons p. 735
2010Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Longrich et al. p. 955
2011Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Burns and Sullivan p. 175
2013Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Arbour and Currie p. 28
2013Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Leahey and Salisbury p. 251
2014Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Arbour et al. p. 11 fig. 6
2014Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Arbour et al. p. 641
2014Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Han et al. p. 14 fig. 11
2014Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Penkalski p. 618
2016Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Arbour and Currie p. 411–412
2016Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Kineer et al. p. 76
2017Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Arbour and Mallon p. 771
2020Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Czepiński p. 490
2021Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Park et al. p. 2

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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()
RankNameAuthor
—Romeriida
—Diapsida()
—Archosauromorpha(Huene 1946)
—Crocopoda
—ArchosauriformesGauthier 1986
—Eucrocopoda
—Archosauria()
informalAvemetatarsalia
—Ornithodira
—Dinosauromorpha
—Dinosauriformes
—Dinosauria()
—Ornithischia()
—Genasauria
—Thyreophora()
—Ankylosauria()
familyAnkylosauridae
subfamilyAnkylosaurinaeNopcsa 1918
genusPinacosaurus
speciesmephistocephalus

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.

†Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus Godefroit et al. 1999
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Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
V. M. Arbour and P. J. Currie 2016Differs from all other ankylosaurs in possessing the following combination of characters: rugose, amorphous frontonasal ornamentation; paranasal apertures/fossae present. Differs from Pinacosaurus grangeri in absence of embayment in supranarial ornamentation; squamosal horns are long and slender, and extend well past posterior margin of skull, and width across squamosal horns is greater than width across supraorbitals; differs from Pinacosaurus grangeri and Tarchia kielanae in the absence of a lacrimal incisure.