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The postcranial skeleton of the iguanodontian ornithopod Jinzhousaurus yangi from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2011

Xiaolin Wang*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 643, Beijing, 100044, China Email: wangxiaolin@ivpp.ac.cn; deep.bluesea@163.com
Rui Pan
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 643, Beijing, 100044, China Email: wangxiaolin@ivpp.ac.cn; deep.bluesea@163.com
Richard J. Butler*
Affiliation:
Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Richard-Wagner-Straße 10, 80333 Munich, Germany Email: butler.richard.j@gmail.com
Paul M. Barrett
Affiliation:
Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK Email: P.Barrett@nhm.ac.uk
*
*Corresponding authors
*Corresponding authors

Abstract

Non-hadrosaurid iguanodontians were the most diverse and abundant group of large-bodied herbivorous dinosaurs during the Early Cretaceous, and were a particularly important component of Laurasian ecosystems. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in our knowledge of the diversity of this group, with multiple new taxa being described from northeast China. The most complete of these Chinese non-hadrosaurid iguanodontians is Jinzhousaurus yangi, from the middle part of the Yixian Formation (Lower Cretaceous: lower Aptian) of Liaoning Province. Here, we provide the first description of the relatively complete and partially articulated postcranial skeleton of the holotype of Jinzhousaurus, and provide detailed comparisons to closely related taxa. We document additional autapomorphies of Jinzhousaurus that provide strong support for the validity of this taxon.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 2011

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