Meng-Yin Formation

The Meng-Yin or Mengyin Formation (simplified Chinese: 蒙阴组; traditional Chinese: 蒙陰組; pinyin: Méngyīn Zǔ) is a geological formation in Shandong, China, whose strata date back to the Berriasian and Valanginian stages of the Early Cretaceous.^[1][2]

Meng-Yin Formation
Stratigraphic range: Berriasian-Valanginian ~145–133 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Geological formation
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone
Other	Siltstone
Location
Coordinates	35.9°N 118.0°E / 35.9; 118.0
Approximate paleocoordinates	36.9°N 120.2°E / 36.9; 120.2
Region	Shandong
Country	China
Meng-Yin Formation (China) Show map of China Meng-Yin Formation (Shandong) Show map of Shandong

Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.^[3] The type material for the titanosauriform dinosaur Euhelopus was excavated at this formation by Otto Zdansky in 1923, in green/yellow sandstone and green/yellow siltstone that were deposited during the Barremian or Aptian stages of the Cretaceous period, approximately 129 to 113 million years ago.^[4]

Both the genus and species of Mengyinaia mengyinensis were named after the formation.

Vertebrate paleofauna

Indeterminate stegosaurid remains have been found in Shandong, China.^[3]

Vertebrates from the Meng-Yin Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Euhelopus[3]	E. zdanskyi[3]	Shandong[3]		"Skull and partial postcranial skeleton, additional fragmentary skeleton."[5]
Mengshanosaurus	M. minimus			A single juvenile skull	A choristodere belonging to Neochoristodera

Other fossils

• Mengyinaia mengyinensis^[6]

Fish

• Sinamia zdanskyi
• Paralycoptera wui^[7]
• Lycoptera sp.

Reptiles

• Ordosemys leios
• Shantungosuchus chuhsienensis^[8]
• Sinemys lens
• Sinochelys applanata
• ?Dsungaripteridae indet.
• Stegosauria indet.

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations