A Lower Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from the Ordos Basin of Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 2177-2179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi-Ming Dong

The discovery of an Early Cretaceous bird from the Ordos Basin of Inner Mongolia (People's Republic of China) is reported. The specimen, collected by the Dinosaur Project (China – Canada – Alberta – Ex Terra) Expedition of 1990, includes scapulocoracoids, humeri, radii, ulnae and metacarpals. It is referred to the Enantiornithes.

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 2174-2176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi-Ming Dong

In 1988, an incomplete skeleton of a stegosaurian dinosaur was found in Lower Cretaceous strata of the Ordos Basin of China by the Dinosaur Project (China – Canada – Alberta – Ex Terra). The material includes an articulated series of vertebrae from the last three cervicals to the first five caudals, and the right ilium. The specimen is identified as a new species called Wuerhosaurus ordosensis. It is the only Lower Cretaceous stegosaur known with an articulated series of dorsal vertebrae, which have been reduced to eleven in number.


1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 599-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
X.-C. Wu ◽  
H.-D. Sues ◽  
D. B. Brinkman

Cranial and postcranial remains from the Laolonghuoze locality in the Ordos Basin, Inner Mongolia (China), represent a previously unrecorded taxon of crocodyliform archosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous Luohandong Formation (Zhidan Group). Several cranial features indicate that this form is referable to the Atoposauridae, which were previously definitely known only from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of Europe. Certain derived characters further indicate that the Ordos material is closely related to, if not actually referable to, Theriosuchus. The Ordos atoposaurid differs from the species of Theriosuchus in only a few features. In view of its fragmentary nature, the new material is identified as cf. Theriosuchus sp. at present.


1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 2163-2173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale A. Russell ◽  
Zhi-Ming Dong

An articulated skeleton of a 1 m long theropod from Early Cretaceous strata in Inner Mongolia is clearly referrable to the Troodontidae, representing the most complete specimen known of this group of small carnivorous dinosaurs. The tail and neck of the animal were curled next to its body upon burial; the upper surface of the skeleton was badly damaged by erosion. Previously unknown details of troodont morphology include a quadratic contact with the braincase wall (forming part of a channel leading to the lateral depression), a presacral vertebral count possibly similar to that of most theropods, absence of ossified caudal tendons, presence of a rod-like clavicle, and absence of sternal ossifications. A new genus and species (Sinornithoides youngi n.gen., n.sp.) is established for the specimen on the basis of its short skull, laterally directed orbital rim of the frontal, and elongated hind limb. A reassessment of character distributions in other small theropods and primitive birds must be completed before troodontid affinities can be established with greater precision.


1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 2107-2127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale A. Russell ◽  
Zhi-Ming Dong

Remains of bipedal saurischians from lacustrine strata of Albian age in the Alxa ("Alashan") Desert of Inner Mongolia represent a new taxon and the most complete remains of an Early Cretaceous theropod so far discovered in Asia. A skeletal reconstruction generally resembles that of a moderately large prosauropod with long arms and a short tail. However, in its detailed morphology the reptile appears to be close to the ancestry of the Therizinosauridae Maleev, 1954 (for which Segno-sauridae Perle, 1979 is probably a junior synonym). These theropods are best referred to the Tetanurae of Gauthier, 1986. However, a provisional analysis of the distribution of therizinosauroid characters within tetanurans suggests the existence of two subordinate groups: the Carnosauria (Allosaurus, dromaeosaurids, and tyrannosaurids) and the Oviraptorosauria (including therizinosauroids, ornithomimids, troodontids, and oviraptorids).


1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 2101-2106 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Eberth ◽  
D. A. Russell ◽  
D. R. Braman ◽  
A. L. Deino

The coarsening-upward clastic sequence at Tebch, Inner Mongolia, China, containing the dinosaur Psittacosaurus mongoliensis, comprises the remains of a fluviolacustrine system deposited in an extensional tectonic setting.The presence of Asteropollis sp. cf. Asteropollis trichotomosulcatus (Singh) Singh, 1983 in conjunction with the absence of tricolpate pollen indicates a Barremian or possibly early Aptian age. The overlying Tebch basalt, dated by the 40Ar/39Ar laser step-heating method, yields a mid-Aptian age of 110 ± 0.52 Ma.This chronology supports the argument that the Juifotang Formation of the Jehe Group in western Liaoning is Early Cretaceous, with the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary very low within, or below, the base of the Jehe Group. Our data also suggest that the Berriasian–Hauterivian (Neocomian) age suggested for the one known Russian locality that has yielded P. mongoliensis (Shestakovskaya Svita at Gorno-Altayaskaya, Avtonomnaya Oblast) may be excessively old.


1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 2153-2162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald B. Brinkman ◽  
Zhi-Ming Dong

New material of Ikechosaurus sunailinae from the Early Cretaceous Laohongdong Formation of the Ordos Basin, Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China, is described. This material, which includes well-preserved articulated skeletons and a series of isolated elements, demonstrates that Ikechosaurus is more closely related to Champsosaurus than to Simoedosaurus, sharing with Champsosaurus the presence of an elongate snout, anteriorly constricted parasphenoid with the foramen canalis caroticus internus located in or near the suture between the parasphenoid and the pterygoid, an anterior extension of the anterior end of the jugal, and an elongate symphysis including the splenial. Ikechosaurus is primitive relative to Champsosaurus in the anterior position of the internal narial openings, in the less strongly flared temporal region with the temporal openings placed largely above one another, in the absence of fenestra in the occiput between the parietal and squamosal, and in the interpterygoid vacuity bordered posteriorly by the basisphenoid. Ikechosaurus and Tchoiria are at a similar grade of evolution, but can be separated by details in the arrangement of bone forming the skull roof.


1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 2128-2138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald B. Brinkman ◽  
Jiang-Hua Peng

Ordosemys leios, n.gen., n.sp., from the Early Cretaceous Luohandong Formation, Zhidan Group, Ordos Basin, Inner Mongolia, is a primitive aquatic turtle with a reduced, fenestrated plastron. It shares with the members of the Centrocryptodira the presence of well-formed articular surfaces on the cervical and caudal vertebrae. Within the Centrocryptodira, characters of the cervical vertebrae suggest it is more closely related to the Polycryptodira than is the Meiolaniidae. Ordosemys shares with the Chelydridae the presence of two procoelous anterior caudals, but this character may be primitive for the Polycryptodira. Characters of the basicranial region of the braincase shared by Ordosemys and the Chelonioidea support a sister-group relationship between these two taxa, but a sister-group relationship between Ordosemys and the Polycryptodira is more strongly supported by characters shared by the Chelonioidea and other members of the Polycryptodira.


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