MEANING: Sensible and stable
PERIOD: Late Cretaceous
CONTINENT: Asia
Datai is a small ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China. Like all ankylosaurs, it was a quadrupedal herbivore, covered in an armor of bony osteoderms down its back and tail. Datai is notable for having double horns on its cheeks, as well as extensive osteoderms on its throat. The preserved specimens were two subadults lying gregariously together, suggesting the possibility that ankylosuars may have sometimes lived in small groups, at least as juveniles.
Abstract from paper: Ankylosaurines are the iconic armoured dinosaurs that characterize terrestrial vertebrate faunas in the Late Cretaceous of Asia and Laramidia (western North America). The earliest members of this clade are known from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Santonian) times of Asia, but little consensus has emerged as to how they are related to the anatomically derived and chronologically younger forms. In southeastern China, the Cretaceous red sand beds crop out across basins from Zhejiang to Guandong provinces. However, the horizons corresponding to the early Late Cretaceous stages remain poorly sampled. Here, we report the first definitive vertebrate skeleton — let alone that of an armoured dinosaur — from the Coniacian/Turonian Ganzhou Formation, Datai yingliangis gen. et sp. nov. Despite the immature ontogenetic status of the type materials, D. yingliangis gen. et sp. nov. can be diagnosed with autapomorphic traits in the cranial caputegulae (such as double horns on the jugal/quadratojugal) and extensive gular osteoderms. Morphologically, it is intermediate between the chronologically older ankylosaurids from Asia (e.g., Crichtonpelta and Jinyunpelta) and derived post-Cenomanian ankylosaurines (e.g., Pinacosaurus). Phylogenetic analyses broadly corroborate this assessment. The new taxon either falls in the grade of Asian ankylosaurines proximal to the lineages of derived taxa or forms a sister lineage to Pinacosaurus. Based on these insights, Datai gen. nov. makes a significant addition to the early Late Cretaceous vertebrate fauna from southeastern China and highlights the future potential in this region for improved understanding of the origin and early evolution of ankylosaurines.
Datai is from the Cretaceous. The Cretaceous is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago. It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin creta, "chalk", which is abundant in the latter half of the period.
The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct flora and fauna, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was ice free, and forests extended to the poles. During this time, new groups of mammals and birds appeared. During the Early Cretaceous, flowering plants appeared and began to rapidly diversify, becoming the dominant group of plants across the Earth by the end of the Cretaceous, coincident with the decline and extinction of previously widespread gymnosperm groups.
The Cretaceous (along with the Mesozoic) ended with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, a large mass extinction in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and large marine reptiles, died out. The end of the Cretaceous is defined by the abrupt Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (K–Pg boundary), a geologic signature associated with the mass extinction that lies between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras.
Datai is an ankylosaur. Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs, most of which have armor in the form of bony osteoderms covering their bodies. They were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. Ankylosaurs first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, and persisted until the end of the Cretaceous Period. They are primarily known from the Northern Hemisphere, but some basal members are known from southern Gondwana during the Cretaceous.
Along with the stegosaurs, ankylosaurs are part of the group Thyreophora, known for their various combinations of armor and spikes. The two main families of ankylosaurs are Ankylosauridae, which are known for having large clubs on the ends of their tails, and Nodosauridae, which do not.