Chuandongocoelurus

Chuandongocoelurus Temporal range: 165 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Middle Jurassic
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
(unranked):	Tetanurae
Superfamily:	Megalosauroidea[1]
Genus:	Chuandongocoelurus He, 1984
Species
C. primitivus He, 1984 (type species)

Chuandongocoelurus ( /tʃwɑːnˌdɒŋɵsɨˈlʊərəs/ chwahn-dong-ə-si-loor-əs; Chuandong and Greek Coelurus - koilos meaning "hollow" and oura meaning "tail") named after the Chuandong in Sichuan Province, China, was a genus of tetanuran theropod dinosaur first described by Chinese paleontologist He in 1984. The formation in which it was discovered was the Lower Shaximiao Formation, part of the Dashanpu Formation, meaning Chuandongocoelurus dates to the Bathonian or Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic. It was initially described as a coelurid^[2] (at the time a wastebasket taxon including almost all small theropods). Norman (1990) considered it to be an indeterminate theropod.^[3] More recently, Benson (2008, 2010) and Benson et al. (2010) found it to be the sister taxon of Monolophosaurus, together forming a clade belonging either to Megalosauroidea^[4][5] or outside of Megalosauroidea in Tetanurae.^[6]

Chuandongocoelurus is known from a single partial skeleton, mostly from the torso and pelvic regions. The specimen has unfused neurocentral sutures in its vertebrae, meaning that the animal was immature at the time of death.

References

1. ^ Benson, R.B.J. (2010). "A description of Megalosaurus bucklandii (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Bathonian of the UK and the relationships of Middle Jurassic theropods". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158 (4): 882–935. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00569.x. 
2. ^ He, 1984. The vertebrate fossils of Sichuan. Sichuan Scientific and Technological Publishing House. 168 pp.
3. ^ Norman, David B. (1990). Problematic Theropoda: ``Coelurosaurs. p. 280-305 in David B. Weishampel, et al. (eds.), The Dinosauria. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford.
4. ^ Benson, 2008. A new theropod phylogeny focussing on basal tetanurans, and its implications for European 'megalosaurs' and Middle Jurassic dinosaur endemism. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 51A.
5. ^ Benson, 2010. A description of Megalosaurus bucklandii (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Bathonian of the UK and the relationships of Middle Jurassic theropods. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. DOI 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00569.x
6. ^ Benson, Brusatte and Carrano, 2010. A new clade of large-bodied predatory dinosaurs (Theropoda: Allosauroidea) that survived to the latest Mesozoic. Naturwissenschaften. 97, 71-78.

External links

• Chuandongocoelurus in the Dinosaur Encyclopedia
• Details on Chuandongocoelurus, from the Dinosaur Mailing List (includes full redescription)

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