View source for Taohelong

{{Short description|Extinct genus of dinosaurs}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| taxon = Taohelong
| fossil_range = [[Early Cretaceous]], {{fossil range|113|110}}
| authority = Yang ''et al.'', [[2013 in paleontology|2013]]
| type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Taohelong jinchengensis'''''
| type_species_authority = Yang ''et al.'', 2013
}}

'''''Taohelong''''' is a [[genus]] of [[nodosaurid]] [[dinosaur]] known from [[Lower Cretaceous]] rocks in north-central China.

''Taohelong'' is [[holotype|based on]] [[Gansu Dinosaur Museum]] (GSDM) 00021, fossils including a tail vertebra, ribs, a left [[ilium (bone)|ilium]] (the main bone of the hip), and [[osteoderm|bony armor]] recovered from the [[Hekou Group]] in the Lanzhou-Minhe Basin. The animal's armor includes part of a "sacral shield", a carpet of osteoderms over the hips found in some other [[ankylosauria]]ns. ''Taohelong'' was named and described in [[2013 in paleontology|2013]] by Yang Jing-Tao, You Hai-Lu, Li Da-Qing, and Kong De-Lai.  The [[type species]] is ''Taohelong jinchengensis''. The generic name means "dragon (''long'') of the river (''he'') Tao". The [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] refers to the provenance at Jincheng.<ref name=Taohelong/>

The describers established some diagnostic traits. The [[neural channel]] of the tail vertebra has a cross-section like an inverted trapezium. In top view the profile of the outer rim of the ilium is like a mirrored "S". The osteoderms of the sacral shield are irregular in both shape and size.<ref name=Taohelong/>

''Taohelong'' was placed in the [[Nodosauridae]], more precisely in the [[Polacanthinae]]. Yang ''et al.'' performed a [[cladistics|phylogenetic analysis]] and found ''Taohelong'' to be the [[sister group|sister taxon]] to ''[[Polacanthus|Polacanthus foxii]]'', making it the first [[polacanthinae|polacanthine]] to be described from Asia.<ref name=Taohelong>{{cite journal |author=Yang J.-T. |author2=You H.-L. |author3=Li D.-Q. |author4= Kong D.-L.  |year=2013 |title=First discovery of polacanthine ankylosaur dinosaur in Asia |journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=265–277 |language=Chinese, English |url=http://www.ivpp.cas.cn/cbw/gjzdwxb/xbwzxz/201312/P020131205318740255664.pdf}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Dinosaurs}}
* [[Timeline of ankylosaur research]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Thyreophora|N.}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q15282397}}

[[Category:Nodosaurids]]
[[Category:Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 2013]]
[[Category:Paleontology in Gansu]]
[[Category:Ornithischian genera]]


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