New ankylosaur from Liaoning

[bh480@scn.org]

From: Ben Creisler
New ankylosaur from Liaoning
The July issue of Naturwissenschaften has a new 
ankylosaur, based on a juvenile [less than 34 cm long!]
from Liaoning Province. Here's the citation and the 
abstract:
Xu, Wang & You, 2001. A juvenile ankylosaur from China. 
Die Naturwissenshaften:
Volume 88 Issue 7 (2001) pp 297-300.

A juvenile ankylosaur from China
Xing Xu, Xiao-Lin Wang, Hai-Lu You
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and 
Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 
643, 142 Xizhimenwai Street, Beijing 100044, People's 
Republic of China E-mail: xu.xing@pa.ivpp.ac.cn Fax: +86-
10-68337001
Received: 10 February 2001 / Accepted in revised form: 21 
April 2001 / Published online: 23 June 2001
Abstract. Juvenile ankylosaur specimens are very rare. A 
new ankylosaur, Liaoningosaurus paradoxus gen. et sp. 
nov., is described based on a beautifully preserved 
juvenile ankylosaur specimen from the famous Yixian 
Formation of Liaoning, China. Liaoningosaurus has a large 
bony plate (somewhat shell-like) shielding the abdomen. 
This discovery represents the first record of such a 
structure among dinosaurs. Although it has a number of 
distinct features seen in the family Ankylosauridae, a 
cladistic analysis placed Liaoningosaurus in the sister-
family Nodosauridae. The 'intermediate' status of this 
taxon between the two ankylosaur families further supports 
the monophyly of Ankylosauria. This finding also documents 
the smallest known ankylosaur specimen and first complete 
nodosaurid specimen from Asia.