What did Saichania really look like?

[Takama]

Ok so the most popular image of Saichania



Is actually a Pinacosaurus with a Saichania Skull According to Victoria Arbour.

So what did this dinosaur look like if this is not the real deal?  I been trying to find a reference but all i get is this skeleton.  Can anyone help?

[Lanthanotus]

I guess you are referring to the article "The taxonomic identity of a nearly complete ankylosaurid dinosaur skeleton from the Gobi Desert of Mongolia" of which I only know the abstract, but given that it is probably the latest publication on the matter, you either have to follow its conclusion or stay with the "old ones", which would mean - according to G.S. Paul's Field Guide - that Saichania had a slightly larger head than Pinacosaurus and was more heavily armored with larger spikes along the sides, its back and tail and its forearms.

[Takama]

Would the images in this article be of any use?  or are they dated as well?

http://www.paleofile.com/Dinosaurs/Armor/Saichania.asp

[Halichoeres]

Arbour, Currie, Badamgarav 2014, The ankylosaurid dinosaurs of the Upper Cretaceous Baruungoyot and Nemegt formations of Mongolia, Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 172: 631-652 relies too heavily on photos but has a handful of decent illustrations. The holotype skull remains the holotype skull. To the best of my knowledge, its hindquarters have never been known with certainty. The Arbour and Currie paper Lanthanotus refers to has a diagram of the known elements of the forequarters of the holotype. Here's a link: http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/science/article/pii/S0195667113001262

[Takama]

Arbour, Currie, Badamgarav 2014, The ankylosaurid dinosaurs of the Upper Cretaceous Baruungoyot and Nemegt formations of Mongolia, Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 172: 631-652 relies too heavily on photos but has a handful of decent illustrations. The holotype skull remains the holotype skull. To the best of my knowledge, its hindquarters have never been known with certainty. The Arbour and Currie paper Lanthanotus refers to has a diagram of the known elements of the forequarters of the holotype. Here's a link: http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/science/article/pii/S0195667113001262

I cant access that link

[Sim]

The holotype of Saichania is actually really good and preserves most of the front half of the animal, even with osteoderms that are articulated!  This specimen is what Saichania is named on, so it's always been Saichania.  You can see a photo of it in this blog post by Victoria Arbour: http://pseudoplocephalus.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/know-your-ankylosaurs-mongolia-edition.html

Would the images in this article be of any use?  or are they dated as well?

http://www.paleofile.com/Dinosaurs/Armor/Saichania.asp

The images of the skulls and cervical half ring on that page are of parts that belong to Saichania specimens.  I'm not sure about the other images, but the specimen you mentioned in your first post which was given a Saichania skull but isn't actually Saichania is MPC 100/1305 and it isn't listed on that Saichania Paleofile page you linked to...


Some palaeontologists have found Tianzhenosaurus and Shanxia to be junior synonyms of Saichania.  An easy to understand explanation for why Victoria Arbour found this can be read at the end of her blog post here: http://pseudoplocephalus.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/know-your-ankylosaurs-mongolian-odds.html  I personally think that those two are most likely synonyms of Saichania.  Tianzhenosaurus is apparently known from a virtually complete skeleton, so if you consider it to be a specimen of Saichania it gives additional information on Saichania's skeleton.

[Takama]

Ok i decided to just make a Pinacosaurus based on that specimen with the correct skull.

However since all specimens of both species of Pinacosaurus are juveniles, does that mean they would grow up to look like this?

If so, i will Commission Jetoar to make a Pinacosaurus grangeri and base it on this skeleton with the correct skull. is this a good idea?

[Sim]

On the Pinacosaurus Wikipedia page, it's mentioned a few times some Pinacosaurus specimens are adults.