Tianchisaurus

Tianchisaurus was a genus in the Ankylosauridae Family. Only one species is known of this genus: nedegoapeferima. They lived during middle Jurassic Period in China. It's probably one of the first members of the Ankylosauridae, therefore it's body is more primitive than later Ankylosaurids. For example, it hasn't got the bony club at the tip of its tail that the Ankylosaurids of the late Cretaceous Period have.

Name
It is name of the type species of this genus that links it to Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg, who has funded Chinese dinosaur research, proposed the name Jurassosaurus for the genus, after the movie Jurassic Park. But Dong Zhiming prefered the name Tianchisaurus.

The name of the species, that Spielberg proposed, was retained: nedegoapeferima. The name is s formed from the first letters of 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.

Links

 * Tianchisaurus on Wikipedia