page_title: Jianchangosaurus
section_title: Distinguishing anatomical features
hierarchical_section_title: Jianchangosaurus / Description / Distinguishing anatomical features
caption_attribution_description: Photograph of the skull of Jianchangosaurus yixianensis gen. et sp. nov. (A) and line drawing (B). show more The right side of the skull is better exposed than the left side. The braincase and palatal bones are displaced. The seventh cervical vertebra is preserved next to the hyoids. Abbreviations: ect, ectopterygoid; hy, hyoids; mxf, maxillary fenestra; A, a large foramen at the base of the internarial bar of the premaxilla; B, a large foramen within the narial fossa of the premaxilla; C, a maxillary foramen above the eighth maxillary tooth; see captions for figures 1 and 2 for other abbreviations. Scale bars are 3 cm.
context_page_description: Jianchangosaurus is a genus of therizinosaurian dinosaur that lived approximately 126 million years ago during the early part of the Cretaceous Period from the Yixian Formation in what is now China. The nearly complete juvenile specimen was missing only the distal tail. Jianchangosaurus was a small, lightly built, bipedal, ground-dwelling herbivore, that could grow up to an estimated 2 m long and was 1 m high at the hips.
context_section_description: According to Pu et al. 2013, Jianchangosaurus can be distinguished based on the presence of 27 tightly packed maxillary teeth; the dorsal border of the antorbital fenestra is formed by the maxilla, nasal, and lacrimal, but with the majority of the border formed by the nasal; there is no participation of jugal in the  margin of the antorbital fenestra; a short diastema is present in the anterior tip of the dentary; dentary teeth have a concave labial surface and a convex lingual surface (this condition is present for all except six anterior teeth); the lack of prominent hypapophyses in the anterior dorsal vertebrae; the anterior caudal centra have an oval cross section and the articular facet is as tall as it is wide; the presence of weakly curved manual unguals with weak flexor tubercles positioned ventral to the articular facet; the ilium is shallow and elongated; the ridge bounding the cuppedicus fossa is confluent with acetabular rim; and there is extensive contact between the pubic apron.
caption: Close up of the skull
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