Hai Xing

National Natural History Museum of China · Geosciences

The cranial anatomy of the flat-skulled hadrosaurine Edmontosaurus regalis (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae) is extensively described here, based on the holotype and paratype collected from the middle part of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in southern Alberta. Focus is given to previously undocumented features of ontogenetic and phylogenetic importance...

A second basal hadrosauroid dinosaur, Zuoyunlong huangi gen. et sp. nov. is reported from the early Late Cretaceous Zhumapu Formation in Zuoyun County, Shanxi Province, northern China. Zuoyunlong preserves a partial right ilium and ischium, and is unique in having a very short postacetabular process 50% as long as the iliac central plate. Our cladi...

The Xichuan Basin is situated along the northwestern border between Henan and Hubei provinces in central China, and includes a thick accumulation of Upper Cretaceous sediments. Here we report and describe some indeterminate hadrosauroid material on the genus level, which was retrieved from the middle Majiacun Formation (Upper Cretaceous) in the sou...

The close affinity between Edmontosaurus and Shantungosaurus is corroborated on the basis of the following shared features: an occipital condyle deflected strongly posteroventrally; a posterodorsally reflected, lip-shaped oral margin of the premaxilla, with a deep, oval concavity at the anteromedial corner of the bone; a well-demarcated posterodors...

Background Southwestern Henan Province in central China contains many down-faulted basins, including the Xixia Basin where the Upper Cretaceous continental sediments are well exposed. The Majiacun Formation is a major dinosaur-bearing stratigraphic unit that occurs in this basin. Methodology/Principal Findings A new basal hadrosauroid dinosaur, Zh...

A non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroid, Qianjiangsaurus changshengi gen. et sp. nov., is named and described here based on an incomplete, partially articulated skeleton from the top of the Upper Cretaceous Zhengyang Formation in Qianjiang District, Chongqing Municipality, southwest China. The skeleton displays a transitional morphology between non-hadrosau...

The osteology and taxonomy of the lambeosaurine Sahaliyania elunchunorum from the upper Yuliangzi Formation (middle Maastrichtian) are reevaluated herein. Based on detailed morphological comparisons among hadrosauroids, we argue that Wulaga lambeosaurine specimens, most of which were previously ascribed to S. elunchunorum, display a combination of...

In studying the skeletal allometry of any vertebrate, it is important to sample the ontogenetic extremes to ensure the accuracy of parameter estimation; this is particularly true for fossil taxa, where sampling of ontogenetic series is incomplete and sporadic. Previous studies have examined allometry in the skull of the duck-billed dinosaur Gryposa...

Despite the abundant number of enantiornithine fossils from the Jehol Biota, the cranial anatomy of these birds remains only superficially known. Similarly, data on dental replacement within this clade, and among toothed birds in general, is largely lacking. Here we describe a new and exquisitely preserved specimen of a bohaiornithid enantiornithin...

Tanius is the earliest named ornithischian genus from China. Since 1929, three species of this genus, namely T. sinensis (the type species), “T. chingkankouensis” and “T. laiyangensis”, have been reported based on remains from the Wangshi Group of Shandong, China, and were previously recognized as hadrosaurines. Following the recent achievement of...

Graphical Abstract Highlights d Two new alvarezsaurian dinosaurs are described from Northwest China d They are intermediate between Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous alvarezsaurians d They showcase the evolution of highly specialized alvarezsaurian forelimb d Specialized alvarezsaurian forelimb morphology evolved slowly, in a mosaic fashion In Brie...

A presumably mostly quadrupedal ankylopollexian iguanodontian, Bayannurosaurus perfectus gen. et sp. nov., is reported here, and is represented by an excellently well-preserved skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous Bayingebi Formation of Inner Mongolia, China. The diagnosis of the taxon includes several autapomorphies, notably a dorsally directed, str...

The Huajiying Formation contains the earliest deposits of the Jehol Biota, representing the world's second oldest avifauna. This avifauna includes the early confuciusornithid Eoconfuciusornis zhengi, the oldest occurrence of this clade and one of the earliest divergences of pygostylian birds. Although E. zhengi shows unique traits, the holotype's i...

Biostratigraphic information for hadrosaurine species used in the biogeographic analysis. (PDF)

Probability calculation of ancestral areas for nodes within Hadrosaurinae. (PDF)

Character-taxon matrix in nexus format. (NEX)

Cranial linear measurements for the holotype and paratype of Edmontosaurus regalis. (PDF)

Character list for the cladistic analysis. (PDF)

The diagnosis of the hadrosaurine Wulagasaurus dongi is revised in this paper, based on both original and new material recovered from the Upper Cretaceous Yuliangzi Formation at the Wulaga locality in Heilongjiang Province, China. However, we also demonstrate that some specimens previously referred to W. dongi, including braincases, maxillae and sc...