Saichania
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Saichania Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 75–70 Ma |
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| Cast of holotype skull GI SPS 100/151 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Family: | †Ankylosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Ankylosaurinae |
| Genus: |
†Saichania Maryańska, 1977 |
| Species: | †S. chulsanensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Saichania chulsanensis Maryańska, 1977 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Tianzhenosaurus? Pang & Cheng, 1998 |
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Tianzhenosaurus? Pang & Cheng, 1998
Shanxia? Barrett et al., 1998
Saichania (Mongolian meaning "beautiful one") is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of Mongolia and China.
The first fossils of Saichania were found in the early 1970s in Mongolia. In 1977 the type species Saichania chulsanensis was named. The description of this species has been based on limited fossil material; especially the rear of the animal is not well known.
Saichania was over five metres long and weighed over two tonnes. It was more robustly built than other members of the Ankylosauridae. Neck vertebrae, shoulder girdle, ribs and breast bones were fused or firmly connected. Its body was flat and low-slung, standing on four short legs. The forelimbs were very powerful. The head was protected by bulbous armour tiles. It could defend itself against predators like Tarbosaurus with a tail-club. On the torso keeled osteoderms were present. Saichania bit off plants in its desert habitat with a horny beak and processed them in its wide hindgut.
In 1970 and 1971 a Polish-Mongolian expedition found ankylosaurian fossils in the Gobi Desert near Chulsan, or Khulsan.
The type species Saichania chulsanensis was named and described by the Polish palaeontologist Teresa Maryańska in 1977, along with the related species Tarchia kielanae. The generic name means "the beautiful one" in Mongolian, referring to the pristine state of preservation of the type specimen. The specific name refers to the provenance near Chulsa.
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