Nankangia

Nankangia is an extinct genus of caenagnathoid oviraptorosaurian dinosaur known from the Upper Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Nankang County, Ganzhou City of Jiangxi Province, southeastern China.

The neural spines of the anterior caudal vertebrae are wider transversely than anteroposteriorly, forming a large posterior fossa with a rugose central area.

Due to the lack of well-preserved corresponding elements between the specimens of Nankangia and Wulatelong, from the Wulansuhai Formation of Inner Mongolia, Lü et al. (2013) could not differentiated between them.

The latter trait is shared with the coeval Ganzhousaurus and Jiangxisaurus, suggesting a primarily herbivorous diet, whereas Banji and another unnamed oviraptorid from the same formation may have been more carnivorous, as they bear a downturned mandibular symphysis.

Lü et al. (2013) suggested that Nankangia may form a clade with Gigantoraptor and Chirostenotes, and therefore refrained from including the former two taxa in the Oviraptoridae, even though this was not supported by their phylogenetic analysis.

[1] However, Oviraptoridae is currently defined as a stem-based taxon that excludes caenagnathids but includes Oviraptor,[2][3] and an alternative definition was not suggested by Lü et al.

[1] The cladogram below shows the phylogenetic position of Nankangia following this analysis, as the sister taxon to the clade mislabeled as Oviraptoridae.

Scapulocoracoids
Restoration
Vertebral column
Pelvic girdle
leg bones