Stokesosaurus

Taxobox
name = "Stokesosaurus"
fossil_range = Late Jurassic
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Saurischia
subordo = Theropoda
superfamilia = Tyrannosauroidea
genus = "Stokesosaurus"
genus_authority=Madsen, 1974
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"S. clevelandi" Madsen, 1974 (type)
*"S. langhami" Benson, 2008

"Stokesosaurus" ("Stokes' lizard") is a genus of small (around 3 to 4 meters in length) early tyrannosaur from the Late Jurassic period of Utah. It was named after Utah geologist William Lee Stokes.cite journal | author = Madsen | year = 1974 | title = A new theropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Utah | journal = Journal of Paleontology | volume = 48 | pages = 27–31]

The holotype (UUVP 2938) consists of a hip bone, originally thought to belong to the possible early tyrannosaur "Iliosuchus",cite journal | author = Galton | year = 1976 | title = "Iliosuchus", a Jurassic dinosaur from Oxfordshire and Utah | journal = Paleontology | volume = 19 | pages = 587–589] as well as several vertebrae and a partial braincase.cite journal | author = Chure and Madsen | year = 1998 | title = An unusual braincase (?"Stokesosaurus clevelandi") from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, Utah (Morrison Formation; Late Jurassic) | journal = Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology | volume = 18 | issue = 1 | pages = 115–125] Another ilium referred to this dinosaurcite journal | author = Foster and Chure | year = 2000 | title = An ilium of a juvenile "Stokesosaurus" (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic: Kimmeridgian), Meade County, South Dakota | journal = Brigham Young University Geology Studies | volume = 45 | pages = 5–10] is lost but may actually belong to the related "Aviatyrannis", and a premaxilla thought to belong to "Iliosuchus" is actually from "Tanycolagreus".

A second species, "Stokesosaurus langhami", was described bu Benson in 2008 based on a partial skeleton.Benson, R.B.J. (2008). "New information on "Stokesosaurus", a tyrannosauroid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from North America and the United Kingdom." "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", 28(3):732-750. doi: 10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28 [732:NIOSAT] 2.0.CO;2.]

"Stokesosaurus" and "Tanycolagreus" are about the same size, and it is possible that the latter is a junior synonym of the former. However, the ilium (the best known element of "Stokesosaurus") of "Tanycolagreus" has never been recovered, making direct comparison difficult.Foster, J. (2007). "Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World". Indiana University Press. 389pp.]

References