Вуэрхозавр: вымерший род стегозавров

Extinct genus of dinosaurs
Automatic taxobox
| fossil range = Early Cretaceous,
| image = Wuerhosaurus by ABelov2014. jpg
| image caption = Restoration of W. homheni with low plates
| taxon = Wuerhosaurus
| authority = Dong, 1973 The remains consisted of the holotype, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) V.4006, a skull less fragmentary skeleton, and the paratype IVPP V.4007. Holotype material includes a mostly complete pelvis and sacrum lacking the ischium, the first caudal vertebrae, two dorsal vertebrae, a scapulocoracoid, humerus and phalanx, as well as two dermal plates. Three posterior caudal vertebrae from the tail and a partial ulna of a second individual form the paratype, and Dong referred a partial ischium from a third locality to Wuerhosaurus. In 2014 Ulansky named a new species of Wuerhosaurus, "W. mongoliensis" for vertebrae and pelvic material, but the name is an invalid nomen nudum. It was formally described as Mongolostegus in 2018.

Wuerhosaurus homheni was probably a broad bodied animal, reaching in length and in body mass. Only a few scattered bones have been found, making a full restoration difficult. Its dorsal plates were at first thought to have been much rounder or flatter than other stegosaurids, but Maidment established this was an illusion caused by breakage: their actual form is unknown. W. homheni had a pelvis of which the front of the ilia strongly flared outwards indicating a very broad belly. The neural spines on the tail base were exceptionally tall. In contrast, W. ordosensis was much smaller, estimated by Paul to have been long and weigh It had a relatively long neck with a broad pelvis, but the neural spines are shorter.) recovered Wuerhosaurus in the former relationship, close to Hesperosaurus and Dacentrurus as basal in Stegosauridae. Wuerhosaurus was recovered in a different position by Escaso et al. (2007), still related to Hesperosaurus, but basal to a clade of Lexovisaurus and Stegosaurus. Maidment et al. (2008

Maidment and colleagues proposed in 2008 that Wuerhosaurus was a junior synonym of Stegosaurus, with W. homheni being renamed Stegosaurus homheni, and W. ordosensis being a dubious taxon. W. homheni was synonymized because the holotype that could be located was similar to Stegosaurus, and because of its phylogenetic position. Wuerhosaurus placed between Stegosaurus and Hesperosaurus, the latter being considered a species of Stegosaurus because of its age, location, and anatomy. Since Wuerhosaurus placed between two possible Stegosaurus species, Maidment et al. synonymized the taxon as well. Wuerhosaurus ordosensis was considered to be a nomen dubium because the holotype could not be found in the IVPP collections. The original description did not mention any valid diagnostic traits, and no other description provided features either, so Maidment et al. considered the taxon undiagnostic. This opinion has been contested, however, by Carpenter (2010). He discussed how the diagnoses and features used by Maidment et al. were inconsistent and generalized, with Wuerhosaurus homheni bearing numerous differences. As such, Carpenter advocated for the separation of both Hesperosaurus and Wuerhosaurus from Stegosaurus, and the separation of the different Stegosaurus species from S. armatus. Stegosaur footprints from the Tugulu Group in Xinjiang Province, China, have been attributed as registered by W. homheni individuals. These tracks include the world's smallest stegosaur tracks, measuring 5.7 cm in length, indicative of a dinosaur that was approximately cat sized.