Kingdom Animalia Clade Dinosauria Scientific name Thescelosaurinae Rank Subfamily | Phylum Chordata Order †Ornithischia Higher classification Thescelosauridae | |
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Similar Thescelosaurus, Dinosaur, Ornithopod, Ornithischia, Cerapoda | ||
Thescelosaurinae is a subfamily of Ornithopod Dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of Asia and the Late Cretaceous of North America.
Contents
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.
Genera
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.
Classification
All Thescelosaurines were originally included in the family Hypsilophodontidae, which is presently considered polyphyletic (unnatural). They are all now simply considered to be basal Euornithopods. They are the sister taxa to Orodrominae, a group containing Albertadromeus, Orodromeus, Oryctodromeus and Zephyrosaurus. Their parent taxon is Thescelosauridae along with Orodrominae. Currently, all genera originally included in Jeholosauridae are classified in Thescelosaurinae, possibly as a group inside it. If the group of Jeholosaurids is not considered natural than that might mean Jeholosauridae is a synonym of Thescelosaurinae.