Shunosaurus, DONG

Chatterjee, Sankar & Zheng, Zhong, 2002, Cranial anatomy of Shunosaurus, a basal sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 136 (1), pp. 145-169 : 151

GENUS SHUNOSAURUS DONG ET AL., 1983

Diagnosis. The following cranial features are unique to Shunosaurus among sauropods: (1) tooth morphology is a combination of cylindrical and spatulate form; (2) pterygoid is extremely slender and small; (3) pterygoid has a fossa on the dorsal aspect; (4) quadrate ramus of the pterygoid is forked; (5) external nares are at the level of the orbit; (6) emargination of the ventral margin of the maxilla/jugal bar behind the tooth row; (7) vomers do not participate in the formation of the choanae; (8) quadratojugal participates in the articulation of the jaws; (9) the basisphenoid recess is extremely deep; (10) trochlear (IV) nerve has two exits; (11) basipterygoid process is not wrapped by the caudal process of the pterygoid; (12) postorbital contains a lateral pit; (13) occlusal level of the maxillary tooth row is convex downward, whereas that of the dentary is concave upward, like a pair of garden shears; (14) replacing tooth invades on the labial side of the functional tooth; (15) dentary tooth count 25 or more.

Type species. Shunosaurus lii Dong, Zhou & Zhang, 1983 .