Gojirasaurus

Gojirasaurus
Live reconstruction of Gojirasaurus
Temporal occurrence
Upper Triassic (middle norium )
217.4 to 214 million years
Locations
North America ( New Mexico )
Systematics
Dinosaur (dinosauria) Lizard dinosaur (Saurischia) Theropoda Neotheropoda Coelophysoidea Gojirasaurus
Scientific name
Gojirasaurus
Carpenter , 1997
Art
Gojirasaurus quayi

Gojirasaurus ("Godzilla lizard"; Japaneseゴ ジ ラ ( Gojira ) - Godzilla , gr .: Sauros - lizard) is a genus of early theropod dinosaurs from the time of the Upper Triassic of North America. Only the type species G. quayi was scientifically described by Kenneth Carpenter in 1997 together with the genus.

Gojirasaurus was described in 1997 based on an incomplete fossil skeleton of a young animal. The finds included teeth, some vertebrae and a shoulder blade as well as rib bones (also abdominal ribs ( gastralia )), the pubic bone (the foremost of the three pelvic bones), chevron bones and metatarsals . The generic name refers to "Gojira" , the Japanese name for the movie monster Godzilla . The epithet of the species stands for the locality in Quay County , US state New Mexico. The not yet fully grown ( semi-adult ) animal had an estimated length of 5.5 meters. With these dimensions, Gojirasaurus was one of the largest known Coelophysids and one of the largest predatory dinosaurs of the Triassic period.

However, unlike Carpenter, many authors do not see the genus as Coelophysids, but as a representative of the broader Coelophysoidea .

literature

• Kenneth Carpenter: A giant coelophysoid (Ceratosauria) theropod from the Upper Triassic of New Mexico, USA. In: New Yearbook for Geology and Paleontology. Treatises. Vol. 205, No. 2, 1997, ISSN  0077-7749 , pp. 189-208.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 74.