Pronunciation: ga-nan-SOR-us
Meaning: Gannan lizard
Author/s: Lü et al. (2013)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Jiangxi Province, China
Discovery Chart Position: #848
Gannansaurus sinensis
(Gannan Lizard from China)Etymology
Gannansaurus is derived from "gannan" (the district belonging to Ganzhou of Jiangxi Province, where the holotype was found) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). The species epithet, sinensis, is derived from the Greek "sin-" (China) and the Latin "ensis" (from).
Discovery
The remains of Gannansaurus were discovered in the Nanxiong Formation at a building site near Longling Town, Gannan District, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, southern China. The skeleton was blown to smithereens by TNT during construction work, but most of a back vertebra (collected in several pieces and glued back together) and a mid-tail vertebra were salvaged to represent the holotype (GMNH F10001).
