Mongolostegus (meaning "Mongolian roof") is a genus of stegosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) Dzunbain Formation of Mongolia. The type and only species is M. exspectabilis,[1] known from a single specimen previously under the nomen nudum Wuerhosaurus mongoliensis.[2]

Mongolostegus
Temporal range:
Early Cretaceous, Aptian–Albian
Skeletal reconstruction
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Thyreophora
Clade: Stegosauria
Family: Stegosauridae
Genus: Mongolostegus
Tumanova and Alifanov, 2018
Type species
Mongolostegus exspectabilis
Tumanova and Alifanov, 2018
Synonyms

Mongolostegus is one of the youngest known stegosaurs, along with Stegosaurus,[3] Yanbeilong,[4] and an unnamed species from the Dzunbain Formation.[1]

Discovery and description

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Life restoration

The holotype is PIN 3779-15, which consists of posterior dorsal and anterior caudal vertebrae as well as pelvic material.[1] It was discovered in a layer of the Dzunbain Formation at Chamrin-Us, Mongolia.

Mongolostegus was first reported by Alifanov et al. (2005) and Alifanov (2012) as an indeterminate stegosaur.[5][6]

Ulansky (2014) informally dubbed the material Wuerhosaurus mongoliensis,[2] but Galton and Carpenter (2016) found W. mongoliensis to be invalid.[7] It was formally named as Mongolostegus by Tumanova and Alifanov in 2018.[1]

Classification

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Tumanova and Alifanov (2018) found Mongolostegus to belong to Stegosauridae.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e T. A. Tumanova & V. R. Alifanov. (2018). First Record of Stegosaur (Ornithischia, Dinosauria) from the Aptian-Albian of Mongolia. Paleontological Journal 52(14) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030118140186 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S0031030118140186
  2. ^ a b Ulansky, Roman. E., (2014). Evolution of the stegosaurs (Dinosauria; Ornithischia). Dinologia, 35 pp. [in Russian]. PDF.
  3. ^ Li, Ning; Li, Daqing; Peng, Guangzhao; You, Hailu (2024). "The first stegosaurian dinosaur from Gansu Province, China". Cretaceous Research. 158: 105852. Bibcode:2024CrRes.15805852L. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105852.
  4. ^ Jia, Lei; Li, Ning; Dong, Liyang; Shi, Jianru; Kang, Zhishuai; Wang, Suozhu; Xu, Shichao; You, Hailu (2024-01-31). "A new stegosaur from the late Early Cretaceous of Zuoyun, Shanxi Province, China". Historical Biology: 1–10. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2308214. ISSN 0891-2963.
  5. ^ Alifanov, B.P., Tumanova, T.A. & Kurzanov, C.M. (2005): [First discovery of a stegosaur in Mongolia]. – Priroda, 12: 61-63. (In Russian).
  6. ^ Alifanov, B.P. (2012): [Fossil Vertebrates of Russia and Adjacent Countries. Fossil Reptiles and Birds. Part 2]; Moscow (GEOS). (In Russian).
  7. ^ Galton, Peter M.; Carpenter, Kenneth M (2016). "The plated dinosaur Stegosaurus longispinus Gilmore, 1914 (Dinosauria: Ornithischia; Upper Jurassic, western USA), type species of Alcovasaurus n. gen". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 279 (2): 185–208. doi:10.1127/njgpa/2016/0551.