Tsagantegia
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Tsagantegia (Tumanova, 1993; etymology = "of Tsagan-Teg") was a medium-sized member of the Ankylosauridae from the Upper Cretaceous Mongolia. The holotype specimen (GI SPS N 700/17), a complete skull, was recovered from the Baynshiree Svita Formation (Cenomanian-Santonian), at the Tsagan-Teg ("White Mountain") locality, Dzun-Bayan, in the southeasternGobi Desert, Mongolia. At this time, the genus is monotypic, including only the type species, T. longicranialis. The skull measures 30 cm. in length, with a maximum width of 25 cm.).Vickaryous et. al. (2004) note that "Unlike other ankylosaurs, in Tsagantegia the cranial ornamentation is not subdivided into a mosaic of polygons but is amorphous." The quadratojugal and squamosal bosses are poorly developed, in contrast with other ankylosaurs. The skull was long and flat, smooth and bearing small horns.
Phylogenetics
In their cladistic analysis of the Ankylosauria, Vickaryous et. al. (2004) placed Tsagantegia at the base of the Ankylosauridae, as the sister group to all other ankylosaurids.
References
- Tumanova, T. A. 1993. A new armored dinosaur from southeastern Gobi. Paleontological Journal 27(2):119-125.
- Vickaryous, Maryanska, and Weishampel 2004. Chapter Seventeen: Ankylosauria. in The Dinosauria (2nd edition), Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., editors. University of California Press.
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