Pronunciation: sy-KAHN-ee-uh
Meaning: Beautiful one
Author/s: Maryanska (1977)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Ömnögovi, Mongolia
Discovery Chart Position: #257
Saichania chulsanensis
Saichania, derived from the Mongolian "saichan" (beautiful), was discovered in the Barun Goyot Formation of Khulsan in southern Mongolia, and while it did have some pretty nifty features for a dinosaur we think "beautiful" is probably a little wide of the mark.
It was bulky with heavy armour on its head, back and flanks, spikes, and a clubbed tail, and sported a series of complicated nasal passages and ducts that were possibly part of a Cretaceous inter-cooling system to remove moisture from inhaled air. The latter would have been amazingly beneficial, taking into account its hot environment, as you really don't want to be rumbling along at a heady 3 km per day without some kind of liquid refreshment.
Saichania is one of the few "tank dinosaurs" known to have belly armour but the authors never explained where its beauty lies. It's in the eye of the beholder some say, and there's no doubt that one ankylosaurid's hotty is another one's hog. But we reckon Saichania is pulchritudinous (we've always wanted to use that word, it means "breath-takingly beautiful") in being the most complete and wonderfully-preserved armoured dinosaur in the fossil record.
It was bulky with heavy armour on its head, back and flanks, spikes, and a clubbed tail, and sported a series of complicated nasal passages and ducts that were possibly part of a Cretaceous inter-cooling system to remove moisture from inhaled air. The latter would have been amazingly beneficial, taking into account its hot environment, as you really don't want to be rumbling along at a heady 3 km per day without some kind of liquid refreshment.
Saichania is one of the few "tank dinosaurs" known to have belly armour but the authors never explained where its beauty lies. It's in the eye of the beholder some say, and there's no doubt that one ankylosaurid's hotty is another one's hog. But we reckon Saichania is pulchritudinous (we've always wanted to use that word, it means "breath-takingly beautiful") in being the most complete and wonderfully-preserved armoured dinosaur in the fossil record.
(Beautiful one from Khulsan)Etymology
Saichania is derived from the Mongolian "Saichan" (beautiful).
The species epithet, chulsanensis, is derived from "Chulsan" (for "Khulsan" where it was found) and the Latin "-ensis" (from).
Discovery
The first fossils of Saichania were discovered in the Barun Goyot Formation at Khulsan, Nemegt Basin, Ömnögovi aimag (South Gobi province), Mongolia.
The holotype (MPC 100/151, previously GI SPS 100/151) is a fragmentary skull and skeleton, including neck and back vertebrae, shoulder girdle, forelimbs elements, and armour in natural arrangements.
In 2014/15, Victoria Arbour and Phil Currie assigned the following to Saichania:A nearly complete skull (HBV-10001: the holotype of Tianzhenosaurus youngi), an incomplete right mandible (HBV-10002: a Tianzhenosaurus youngi paratype), and a nearly complete skull-lacking skeleton (HBV-10003: another Tianzhenosaurus youngi paratype), all from the Huiquanpu Formation, Kangdailiang near Zhaojiagou Village, Tianzhen County, Shanxi Province, China.
A fragmentary skull, five neck, three back and four tail vertebrae, the right humerus, a fragment of ?ilium, a complete right femur, a portion of left femur and one armour plate (IVPP V11276: the holotype of Shanxia tianzhenensis) from the Huiquanpu Formation, Wu Valley, Tian Zhen County, Shanxi Province, China.
A complete skull and both mandibles (described by Tumanova 1977), plus previously undescribed neck vertebrae, shoulder blade, sacrum, ischia, femur, ribs and armour plates (PIN 3142/250), from the Nemegt Formation, Hermiin Tsav I, Mongolia.
A complete skeleton with skull (PIN 3142/251: initially referred to Saichania chulsanensis by Tumanova in 1987), a tail club (ZPAL MgD I/114), and awol fragments of skull roof and osteoderms (initially referred to Saichania chulsanensis by Maryanska in 1977), all from Mongolia's Hermiin Tsav II locality.
A skull and as-yet undescribed skeleton (PIN 3142/250) from the Nemegt Formation at Hermiin Tsav I, that was assigned to Tarchia gigantea by Tumanova in 1987 and is the specimen that most palaeontologists were looking it when they studied Tarchia. However, in 2016, Penalski and Tumanova renamed this specimen Tarchia teresae, in recognition of Teresa Maryanska and her work on Asian dinosaurs.
