biology

Shihtienfenia

Shihtienfenia is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Shihtienfenia rather than just read about it. In short: Shihtienfenia is an extinct genus of pareiasaurid parareptile from the Late Permian of China. Species Lee (1997) refers to S. xuecunensis as a metaspecies lacking the autapomorphies of Shihtienfenia.

Key takeaways

Shihtienfenia belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Shihtienfenia to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Shihtienfenia from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Shihtienfenia is an extinct genus of pareiasaurid parareptile from the Late Permian of China.

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 the Shiqianfeng locality near Baode, Shanxi, part of the Sunjiagou Formation. Shanshisaurus xuecunensis Cheng, 1980 and Huanghesaurus liuliensis Gao, 1983 are synonyms. S. completus (Wang, Yi and Liu, 2019); The first pareiasaur skull from Asia came from this species.

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.

References

External links Pareiasaurinae at Palaeos

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Shihtienfenia

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Shihtienfenia claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Shihtienfenia before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Shihtienfenia ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Shihtienfenia

In research: Shihtienfenia appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Shihtienfenia in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Shihtienfenia is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fossil taxa described in 1963, Pareiasauria, Permian China, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Shihtienfenia outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Shihtienfenia in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Shihtienfenia means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Shihtienfenia out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shihtienfenia in simple terms?

Shihtienfenia is an extinct genus of pareiasaurid parareptile from the Late Permian of China. Species Lee (1997) refers to S. xuecunensis as a metaspecies lacking the autapomorphies of Shihtienfenia.

Why does Shihtienfenia matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Shihtienfenia?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Shihtienfenia.