In Depth
Tianchisaurus was originally dubbed (but never officially named) Jurassosaurus because in the same year that it was named, the very first Jurassic park film was released. Incidentally, the name Jurassosaurus was suggested by Steven Spielberg who produced and directed the film. Dong rejected the name Jurassosaurus in favour of Tianchisaurus, but kept the species name ‘nedegoapeferima’ as this was created from the surnames of the main actors of the film.
Tianchisaurus was a primitive ankylosaur, but one which has an uncertain placement. To start the tail club seems to have been severely underdeveloped, perhaps even absent and the jaws are also quite narrow. These two features (or in the case of the club, lack of) themselves are most commonly associated with nodosaurid dinosaurs, close cousins of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs. For this reason most palaeontologists prefer to list Tianchisaurus within the Ankylosauria which features both nodosaurid and ankylosaurid dinosaurs, but also hold back upon a specific placement in either group until new specimens and/or research can prove one over the other.
Further Reading
- An ankylosaur (ornithischian dinosaur) from the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin, China. - Vertebrata PalAsiatica 31(4):257-266. - Z. Dong - 1993.
