Shihtienfenia

Shihtienfenia; Temporal range: Capitanian, 260 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Maxilla of Honania complicidentata, which may be valid
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Procolophonomorpha
Family:	†Pareiasauridae
Genus:	†Shihtienfenia; Young & Yeh, 1963
Type species
	†Shihtienfenia permica; Young & Yeh, 1963
Species
	†S. permica Young & Yeh, 1963; †S. xuecunensis Cheng 1980;
Synonyms
	Honania complicidentata Young, 1979 ; Huanghesaurus liuliensis Gao, 1983 ; Shansisaurus xuecunensis Cheng 1980 ; Tsiyania simplicidentata Young, 1979;

Shihtienfenia was a pareiasaurid from the Middle Permian of China.^[1]

Species

Lee (1997) refers to S. xuecunensis as a metaspecies lacking the autapomorphies of Shihtienfenia. Tsuji & Müller (2009) seem to consider it a valid taxon for cladistic analysis, and like Lee 1997 place the two Chinese species close to Pareiasuchus.

S. permica (Young and Yeh, 1963);The skull of this pareiasaur is unknown. It is known originally from a number of isolated vertebrae, jaws, and limb-bones and an incomplete skeleton, all from a single locality (Shiqianfeng Formation at Baode, Shansi).Honania complicidentata and Tsiyania simplicidentata (Young, 1979), also from this locality, are based on isolated teeth and probably invalid taxa, or synonyms of S. permica.

S. xuecunensis (Cheng, 1980);from the Shihezi Formation of Henan, differs only in possession of a more robust humerus, which is not enough to justify taxonomy separation; Huanghesaurus liuliensis known from a lowre jaw and partial skeleton would be another synonym. (Lucas 2001).

Classification

Shihtienfenia is unusual because of the presence of 6, rather than the usual 4, sacral vertebrae, and may belong in a separate subfamily, although Oskar Kuhn includes it under the Pareiasaurines in his monograph (Kuhn 1969). As with the Pareiasaurines the upper margin of the ilium is flat.