View source for Maleevus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of dinosaurs}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = [[Late Cretaceous]] {{fossilrange|90|earliest=98|latest=83}}
| image =
| image_caption =
| display_parents = 2
| genus = Maleevus
| parent_authority = Tumanova, 1987
| species = disparoserratus
| authority = Tumanova, 1987
| synonyms =
*''Syrmosaurus disparoserratus'' <small>Maleev 1952</small>
}}
'''''Maleevus''''' (named in honour of [[Evgeny Maleev]]) is an extinct [[genus]] of herbivorous [[ankylosaur]]id [[dinosaur]] from the late [[Cretaceous]], around 90 [[mya (unit)|million years ago]] (possibly 98-83 Ma), of [[Mongolia]].<ref name="Maleev1952" />
==Discovery and naming==
Between 1946 and 1949, Soviet-Mongolian expeditions uncovered fossils at Shiregin Gashun. In 1952, [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[palaeontologist]] [[Evgenii Aleksandrovich Maleev]] named some ankylosaurian bone fragments as a new species of ''[[Syrmosaurus]]'': ''Syrmosaurus disparoserratus''. The [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] refers to the unequal serrations on the teeth.<ref name="Maleev1952">Maleev E.A., 1952, "Новый анқилосавр из вернего мела Монголии", ''Doklady Akademii Nauk, SSSR'' '''87''': 273-276</ref>
The [[holotype]], '''PIN 554/I''', was found in a layer of the [[Bayan Shireh Formation]] dating from the [[Cenomanian]]-[[Santonian]]. It consists of two upper jawbones, left and right [[maxilla]]e. Maleev erroneously assumed these represented the lower jaws. Referred was specimen PIN 554/2-1, the rear of the skull of another individual.<ref name="Maleev1952"/>
In 1977, [[Teresa Maryańska]] noted a similarity with another Mongolian ankylosaur, ''[[Talarurus]]'', in that both taxa have separate openings for the ninth to twelfth [[cerebral nerve]]; she therefore renamed the species as ''Talarurus disparoserratus''.<ref>T. Maryańska, 1977, "Ankylosauridae (Dinosauria) from Mongolia", ''Palaeontologia Polonica'' '''37''': 85-151</ref> Having determined that ''Syrmosaurus'' is a [[junior synonym]] of ''[[Pinacosaurus]]'', Soviet palaeontologist [[Tatyana Tumanova]] named the material as a new genus ''Maleevus'' in honor of Maleev in 1987.<ref> ''The armored dinosaurs of Mongolia'' [in Russian], Tumanova - 1987.</ref> The [[type species]] remains ''Syrmosaurus disparoserratus'', the ''[[combinatio nova]]'' is ''Maleevus disparoserratus''.<ref>T.A. Tumanova, 1987, "Pantsirnyye dinozavry Mongolii", ''Trudy Sovmestnaya Sovetsko-Mongol'skaya Paleontologicheskaya Ekspeditsiya'' '''32''': 1-80</ref> In 1991, George Olshevsky named the species as a ''Pinacosaurus disparoserratus''.<ref>Olshevsky, G., 1991, ''A revision of the parainfraclass Archosauria Cope, 1869, excluding the advanced Crocodylia''. Mesozoic Meanderings 2, 196 pp</ref> In 2014, [[Victoria Megan Arbour]] determined that the rear skull was not different from that of many other ankylosaurids and that the single distinguishing trait of the teeth, a zigzag pattern on the ''cingulum'', was shared with ''[[Pinacosaurus]]''. She concluded that ''Maleevus'' was a ''[[nomen dubium]]''.<ref name="Arbour2014">Arbour, Victoria Megan, 2014, ''Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs''. Ph.D thesis, University of Alberta</ref>
==Size==
The preserved maxillae have length of about twelve centimetres.<ref name="Maleev1952" /> This indicates that ''Maleevus'' was a medium-sized ankylosaur of around {{convert|6|m|ft}}. The height and weight of ''Maleevus'' is unknown due to the lack of known remains. (size estimates based on the related ''[[Talarurus]]'').
==Classification==
''Syrmosaurus disparoserratus'' was by Maleev placed in the [[Syrmosauridae]].<ref name="Maleev1952"/> Today ''Maleevus'' is seen as a member of the [[Ankylosauridae]].
==See also==
* [[Timeline of ankylosaur research]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1755632}}
[[Category:Ankylosaurs]]
[[Category:Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia]]
[[Category:Turonian life]]
[[Category:Fossils of Mongolia]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1987]]
[[Category:Nomina dubia]]
{{ankylosaurian stub}}