Yangchuanosaurus
| Yangchuanosaurus | ||||||||||||
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Artist's impression of Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Upper Jurassic ( Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian ) | ||||||||||||
| 163.5 to 152.1 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Yangchuanosaurus | ||||||||||||
| Dong et al. , 1978 |
Yangchuanosaurus was a theropod dinosaur from the Chinese Upper Jurassic ( Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian ). The genus belongs to the Carnosauria .
features
Yangchuanosaurus was similar in shape and size to its North American contemporary and relative, Allosaurus . It was a large carnivore that moved on its strong hind legs. The rear legs ended in three toes, each with a claw - the much smaller front legs also had three clawed fingers each. The long, stiff tail made up about half of the total length. The head, up to a meter long, had a bony crest along the nose. There were more teeth in its mouth than in Allosaurus .
Y. shangyouensis reached a length of 8 m; the skull was 82 cm long. Another species, Y. magnus , was significantly longer than Y. shangyouensis at 10 m , with the skull of Y. magnus making up a tenth of the total length at about 1.1 m. The weight is estimated at 3 to 4 tons. The antorbital window has the shape of a triangle. The teeth are flattened on the sides and curved backwards. The edges were jagged.
Timeframe and Discovery
Yangchuanosaurus lived during the Upper Jurassic ( Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian ).
Its fossils were found in China . The first description of the genus comes from the Chinese researchers Dong, Chang, Li and Zhou, who found an almost complete skeleton of Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis in Yangchuan in the Chinese province of Sichuan in the 1970s .
A possible second species, Y. magnus , was described by Dong, Zhou and Zhang in 1983 - its status, however, has not been established.
External system
Yangchuanosaurus is incorporated into the Sinraptoridae family with a few other carnivorous theropods such as Sinraptor . These are closely related to the Allosauridae and are placed in the common group of the Allosauroidea .
Individual evidence
- ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , pp. 91-93, online .
- ^ A b Dong Zhiming , Zhang Yihong, Li Xuanmin, Zhou Shiwu: A new carnosaur from Yongchuan County, Sichuan Province. In: Ke Xue Tong Bao. A Monthly Journal of Science. Vol. 23, No. 5, 1978, ISSN 0250-7862 , pp. 302-304, digital version (PDF; 103.12 KB) .
- ↑ Zhiming Dong, Shiwu Zhou, Yihong Zhang: Dinosaurs from the Jurassic of Sichuan. In: Palaeontologica Sinica. No. 162 = New Series C, No. 23, 1983, pp. 1–136, (PDF; 2.79 MB) .
- ^ Gregory S. Paul: Eustreptospondylids and Metriacanthosaurs. In: Gregory S. Paul: Predatory Dinosaurs of the World. A complete and illustrated guide. Simon and Schuster, New York NY et al. 1988, ISBN 0-671-61946-2 , pp. 286-293.
