| Liaoningosaurus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous | |
|---|---|
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| An artist's depiction of Liaoningosaurus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | †Ankylosauria |
| Family: | †Ankylosauridae |
| Genus: | †Liaoningosaurus Xu et al., 2001 |
| Type species | |
| †Liaoningosaurus paradoxus Xu et al., 2001 | |
Liaoningosaurus paradoxus is an Ankylosaurid from early Cretaceous China. A skeleton of this ankylosaur had several fish skeletons in its stomach, leading to a new thesis that states that it ate fish and hunted it on aquatic environments. This would make it the very first known truly aquatic dinosaur, as well as the first known carnivorousi or omnivorous dinosaur from an herbivorous group.[1][2][3]
Description[]
The specimen is unique among all known ankylosaur fossils in the retention of the external mandibular fenestra. Antorbital fenestrae may also be present. It has relatively large teeth, including teeth in the praemaxilla (primitive or possibly juvenile trait). The points on the tooth crown were unusually long and sharp, giving each tooth a fork-like shape. It had long feet, long lower legs, and long, sharp claws on the hands and feet, unlike the blunt claws of other ankylosaurians. All of these were initially interpreted by the original describers as juvenile features, given the specimen's small size and lack of fusion between the spine and hip bones.[4]
Based on a second specimen, Ji and colleagues instead argued that these traits are adaptations to a semiaquatic lifestyle. The large, fork-like teeth and sharp claws would have been adapted to catch fish and other small animals. Stomach contents recovered with the second L. paradoxus specimen show that fish may have formed part of the animal's diet. This indicates that Liaoningosaurus could have been either carnivorous or at least omnivorous, making it the first non-herbivorous ornithischian ever discovered, though the behavior has also been suspected in more basal ornithischians like heterodontosaurs and pachycephalosaurids.[5]
Other Wikis[]
https://prehistoric-wiki.fandom.com/wiki/Liaoningosaurus
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/this-tiny-ankylosaur-ate-fish/
- ↑ http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-JSDZ201602028.htm
- ↑ https://eartharchives.org/articles/armored-dinosaur-was-a-fish-eating-turtle-mimic/index.html
- ↑ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs001140100233
- ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257535382_Epidermal_and_Dermal_Integumentary_Structures_of_Ankylosaurian_Dinosaurs