Bayan Mandahu Formation

The **Bayan Mandahu Formation** (or **Wulansuhai Formation**) is a geological unit of "redbeds" located near the village of Bayan Mandahu in Inner Mongolia, China Asia (Gobi Desert) and dates from the late Cretaceous Period. Laid down in the Campanian, it is dated somewhat uncertainly to between 75-71 mya (million years ago).

The paleoenvironment it preserves was semi-arid and characterized by alluvial (stream-deposited) and eolian (wind-deposited) sediments. The formation is known for its vertebrate fossils, most of which are preserved in unstructured sandstone, indicating burial by wind-blown sandstorms.

## Fauna

The fauna of the Bayan Mandahu is very similar in composition to the nearby Djadochta Formation, and the two may have been deposited at roughly the same time. These two formations share many of the same genera, but differ in the makeup of species. For example, the most common mammal in the Djadochta is *Kryptobaatar dashzevegi*, while in the Bayan Mandahu, it is the closely related *Kryptobaatar mandahuensis*. Similarly, the dinosaur fauna of the Djadochta includes *Protoceratops andrewsi* and *Velociraptor mongoliensis*, while the Bayan Mandahu contains *Protoceratops hellenikorhinus* and *Velociraptor osmolskae*.

### Lizards

An amphisbaenian species is known from the formation. An iguanian species is known from the formation.

 *Adamisaurus*
 *Bainguis*
 *Telmasaurus*

### Mammals

A taeniolabidoidea multituberculate is known from the formation.

 *Kennalestes*
 *Kryptobaatar*

## See also

* Barun Goyot Formation
* List of fossil sites (with link directory)
* Nemegt Formation
* List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Godefroit, Pascal; Currie, Philip J.; Li, Hong; Shang, Chang Yong; Dong, Zhi-ming (2008). "A new species of *Velociraptor* (Dinosauria: Dromaeosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of northern China". *Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology* **28** (2): 432–438. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[432:ANSOVD]2.0.CO;2.  Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "PGetal2008" defined multiple times with different content
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 Jerzykiewicz, T.; Currie, P.J.; Eberth, D.A.; Johnston, P.A.; Koster, E.H.; Zheng J. (1993). "Djadokhta correlative strata in Chinese Inner Mongolia: An overview of the stratigraphy, sedimentary geology, and paleontology and comparisons with the type locality in the pre-Altai Gobi.". *Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences* **30**: 2180–2195. doi:10.1139/e93-190.  [printed early 1994]
3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 Nicholas R. Longrich, Philip J. Currie, Dong Zhi-Ming (2010). "A new oviraptorid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Bayan Mandahu, Inner Mongolia". *Palaeontology* **53** (5): 945–960. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00968.x.
4. ↑ "Table 17.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 364.
5. ↑ "Table 22.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 480.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Xu, X., Choinere, J., Pittman, M., Tan, Q., Xiao, D., Li, Z., Tan, L., Clark, J., Norell, M., Hone, D.W.E. and Sullivan, C. (In press). "A new dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous Wulansuhai Formation of Inner Mongolia, China." *Zootaxa*, **in press**.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Xu X., Tan Q., Sullivan, C., Han F., Xiao D. (2011)
A Short-Armed Troodontid Dinosaur from the Upper
Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia and Its Implications for
Troodontid Evolution.
PLoS ONE 6(9): e22916. Template:Doi
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0022916

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