Kingdom Animalia Superorder Dinosauria Infraorder Ankylosauria Phylum Chordata Order Ornithischia | Class Sauropsida Suborder Thyreophora Family Ankylosauridae? Rank Genus | |
Similar Bienosaurus, Gobisaurus, Shamosaurus, Asiaceratops, Xuanhuaceratops | ||
Tianchisaurus (meaning "heavenly pool lizard") is a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur from the middle Jurassic Period (Bajocian–Bathonian stages) of China. If it actually belongs to the family Ankylosauridae as proposed by Dong Zhiming, it would be the earliest member of that family. Unlike other ankylosaurids, it lacked a bony club at the tip of its tail.
The type specimen was informally referred to as "Jurassosaurus" after the 1993 film Jurassic Park, and the species epithet nedegoapeferima is formed from the surnames of the film's main stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Ariana Richards, and Joseph Mazzello. Director Steven Spielberg, who has funded Chinese dinosaur research, proposed the name. Dong Zhiming ultimately discarded the genus name "Jurassosaurus" (which is now a nomen nudum) in favor of Tianchisaurus, but retained the species name honoring the actors.