Thescelosaurinae

Extinct subfamily of dinosaurs

Thescelosaurines
Temporal range: Cretaceous, 130–66 Ma
PreꞒ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Thescelosaurus skeleton on display at the Burpee Museum of Natural History
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Family: Thescelosauridae
Subfamily: Thescelosaurinae
Sternberg, 1940
Type species
Thescelosaurus neglectus
Gilmore, 1913
Subgroups

Thescelosaurinae is a subfamily of thescelosaurid dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of Asia and the Late Cretaceous of North America.[1]

Distribution

The distribution of Thescelosaurinae is quite large. They are widespread through United States and Canada where most of their fossils have been found. They also have a small group in North-Eastern China and Mongolia.[1]

Genera

Head and arms of Thescelosaurus, Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center

Studies disagree about which genera are included in the Thescelosaurinae. The group is defined to include Parksosaurus and Thescelosaurus and a cladistic analysis by C.M. Brown in 2013 concluded that the genera Changchunsaurus, Haya, Jeholosaurus and possibly Koreanosaurus are also thescelosaurines.[1]

Classification

This cladogram is from Brown et al., (2013).[2]

All thescelosaurines were originally included in the family Hypsilophodontidae, which is presently considered polyphyletic (unnatural). They are all now considered to be basal neornithischians, though more research is needed to be certain. They are the sister taxa to Orodrominae, a group containing Albertadromeus, Orodromeus, Oryctodromeus and Zephyrosaurus. Their parent taxon is Thescelosauridae along with Orodrominae.[1] Currently, all genera originally included in Jeholosauridae are classified in Thescelosaurinae, possibly as a group inside it.[2] If the group of jeholosaurids is not considered natural than that might mean Jeholosauridae is a synonym of Thescelosaurinae. Recently, a phylogenetic analysis found them outside of Ornithopoda, the group they'd been allied with traditionally.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Thescelosaurinae". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  2. ^ a b Brown, C. M.; Evans, D. C.; Ryan, M. J.; Russell, A. P. (2013). "New data on the diversity and abundance of small-bodied ornithopods (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Belly River Group (Campanian) of Alberta". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 33 (3): 495–520. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.746229.
  3. ^ Boyd, C. A. (2015). "The systematic relationships and biogeographic history of ornithischian dinosaurs". PeerJ. 3: e1523. doi:10.7717/peerj.1523. PMC 4690359.
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Avemetatarsalia
    • see Avemetatarsalia
Ornithischia
    • see below↓
Heterodontosauridae
Heterodontosaurinae
Thyreophora
Ankylosauria
    • see Ankylosauria
Stegosauria
    • see Stegosauria
Neornithischia
    • see below↓
Eocursor parvus

Heterodontosaurus tucki

Scutellosaurus lawleri
Jeholosauridae
Thescelosauridae
Orodrominae
Thescelosaurinae
Cerapoda
Ornithopoda
    • see Ornithopoda
Marginocephalia
Ceratopsia
    • see Ceratopsia
Pachycephalosauria
    • see Pachycephalosauria
Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus Parksosaurus warreni
Taxon identifiers
Thescelosaurinae