Early Cretaceous dinosaur faunas in China: an introduction

Abstract

Preliminary evidence suggests that during the Early Cretaceous there were separate dinosaur faunas in northern and southern Asia. The northern fauna, the Psittacosaurus fauna, is well known and based upon collections from numerous localities and formations throughout northern China and southern Mongolia. Although the southern fauna is still poorly known and based upon collections from only a small number of sites, it appears to be distinguished by the absence of psittacosaurs. The discovery of Psittacosaurus in Thailand suggests that the division is probably ecological in nature.