''Tianchisaurus'' (meaning "heavenly pool lizard"), also invalidly called ''Tianchiasaurus'' and "Jurassosaurus", is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

ankylosaur Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the clade Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful l ...

ian

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

from the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time scale, geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum, strata.Owen ...

( Oxfordian–

Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 154.8 ±0.8 Ma and 149.2 ±0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian ...

)-aged Toutunhe Formation of China. It is one of the oldest ankylosaurs, being slightly younger than the Moroccan '' Spicomellus''. While many later-diverging ankylosaurids had bony clubs at the tips of their tails, ''Tianchisaurus'' likely lacked such a structure.

Discovery and naming

The holotype (IVPP V. 10614), discovered in 1974, consists of skull fragments, five cervicals, six dorsals, seven sacrals, and three caudals, limb fragments, scutes and some unidentifiable fragments. The type specimen was informally referred to as "Jurassosaurus" after the 1993 film ''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton, centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of De-extinction#Cloning, cloned dinosaurs. It bega ...

'', and the species epithet ''nedegoapeferima'' is formed from the surnames of the film's main stars:

Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. His career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he is regarded as one of the most versatile acto ...

, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum,

Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, film director, and Film producer, producer. Attenborough was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Acade ...

Bob Peck Robert Peck (23 August 1945 – 4 April 1999) was an English actor who played Ronald Craven in the television serial ''Edge of Darkness'', for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor, BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He ...

, Martin Ferrero,

Ariana Richards Ariana Clarice Richards (born September 11, 1979) is an American painter and former actress. She is best known for her role as Lex Murphy in the 1993 film ''Jurassic Park''. Richards won several Young Artist Awards for her acting as a child, but ...

, and

Joseph Mazzello Joseph Francis Mazzello III (born September 21, 1983) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Tim Murphy in ''Jurassic Park'', Roarke Hartman in '' The River Wild'', Eugene Sledge in the HBO miniseries '' The Pacific'', Dustin ...

. Dong, Z. (1993). "An ankylosaur (ornithischian dinosaur) from the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin, China." ''Vertebrata PalAsiatica'' 31:258-264. Director

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

, who has funded Chinese dinosaur research, proposed the name.

Dong Zhiming Dong Zhiming (Chinese language, Chinese: 董枝明, Pinyin: ''Dǒng Zhimíng''; January 1937 – 20 October 2024) was a Chinese vertebrate paleontologist formerly employed at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) ...

ultimately discarded the genus name "Jurassosaurus" (which is now a ''

nomen nudum In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published ...

'') in favor of ''Tianchisaurus'', but retained the species name honoring the actors. The description paper uses the spellings ''Tianchiasaurus'' and ''Tianchisaurus'' interchangeably, but is spelled with the extra "a" in the section naming it as a new genus. In 1994, Dong published an erratum stating that ''Tianchisaurus'' is the correct name. "Sanghongesaurus", mentioned by Zhao Xijin (1983), is sometimes referred to as a basal ornithischian or a synonym of ''Tianchisaurus''. Carpenter, K. (2001). Phylogenetic analysis of the

Ankylosauria Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the clade Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs ...

. In K. Carpenter (ed.), The Armored Dinosaurs. ''Indiana University Press, Bloomington'' 455-483

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q871907 Ankylosauria Dinosaur genera Late Jurassic dinosaurs Taxa named by Dong Zhiming Fossil taxa described in 1993 Dinosaurs of China

Discovery and naming

See also

References