Prodeinodon Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Genus: | † Prodeinodon Osborn, 1924 |
Type species | |
†Prodeinodon mongoliense Osborn, 1924 | |
Species | |
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Prodeinodon (meaning "before Deinodon ") is a wastebasket taxon and a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian to Aptian stages) from the Xinlong Formation in the Napai Basin of China and from the Oosh Formation of Mongolia. [1] Two species have been formally identified (with a third informal species), all three known only from tooth fragments, showing no diagnostic features, making them difficult to classify, though they may belong to a carnosaur. At least some of the referred species may represent basal carcharodontosaurid theropods similar to Acrocanthosaurus . [2]
The type species, P. mongoliense, was described by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1924. [3] A second species, P. kwangshiensis, was named in 1975. [4] "P. tibetensis" has not been formally described, and it may have belonged to its own, separate genus. [5]
Tarbosaurus is a genus of tyrannosaurine theropod dinosaur that lived in Asia about 72 million years ago to 68 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian age at the end of the Late Cretaceous period, considered to contain a single known species: Tarbosaurus bataar. Fossils have been recovered from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia, with more fragmentary remains found further afield in the Subashi Formation of China.
Acrocanthosaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that existed in what is now North America during the Aptian and early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous, from 113 to 110 million years ago. Like most dinosaur genera, Acrocanthosaurus contains only a single species, A. atokensis. It had a continent-wide range, with fossil remains known from the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming in the west, and Maryland in the east.
Carcharodontosaurus is a genus of carnivorous theropod dinosaur that lived in North Africa from about 99 to 94 million years ago during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Two teeth of the genus, now lost, were first described from Algeria by French paleontologists Charles Depéret and Justin Savornin as Megalosaurus saharicus. A partial skeleton was collected by crews of German paleontologist Ernst Stromer during a 1914 expedition to Egypt. Stromer did not report the Egyptian find until 1931, in which he dubbed the novel genus Carcharodontosaurus, making the type species C. saharicus. Unfortunately, this skeleton was destroyed during the Second World War. In 1995 a nearly complete skull of C. saharicus, the first well-preserved specimen to be found in almost a century, was discovered in the Kem Kem Beds of Morocco; it was designated the neotype in 1996. Fossils unearthed from the Echkar Formation of northern Niger were described and named as another species, C. iguidensis, in 2007.
Carnosauria is an extinct group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
Saurornithoides is a genus of troodontid maniraptoran dinosaur, which lived during the Late Cretaceous period. These creatures were predators, which could run fast on their hind legs and had excellent sight and hearing. The name is derived from the Greek stems saur~ (lizard), ornith~ (bird) and eides (form), referring to its bird-like skull.
Alectrosaurus is a genus of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about some 96 million years ago in what is now the Iren Dabasu Formation.
Fukuiraptor was a medium-sized megaraptoran theropod dinosaur of the Early Cretaceous epoch that lived in what is now Japan. Fukuiraptor is known from the Kitadani Formation and possibly also the Sebayashi Formation.
Carcharodontosauridae is a group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. In 1931, Ernst Stromer named Carcharodontosauridae as a family, which, in modern paleontology, indicates a clade within Carnosauria. Carcharodontosaurids include some of the largest land predators ever known: Giganotosaurus, Mapusaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and Tyrannotitan all rivaled Tyrannosaurus in size. Estimates give a maximum weight of 8–10 metric tons for the largest carcharodontosaurids, while the smallest carcharodontosaurids were estimated to have weighed at least 500 kilograms (1,100 lb).
Chilantaisaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur, possibly a neovenatorid or a primitive coelurosaur, from the Late Cretaceous Ulansuhai Formation of China. The type species, C. tashuikouensis, was described by Hu in 1964.
Asiatosaurus is an extinct genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur which lived during the Early Cretaceous in Mongolia and China. The type species is known only from teeth, making it difficult to rely on information until more specimens are found to expand our knowledge, and another species is known, also based on scant remains; both are now classified as nomina dubia.
Wakinosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian-Barremian) Sengoku Formation of Kyushu, Japan. The genus is a tooth taxon, based solely on the middle section of a single tooth.
Erectopus is an extinct genus of basal allosauroid theropod from the Early Cretaceous La Penthiève Beds Formation of France and also possibly the Cernavodă Formation of southern Romania. The type species is E. superbus, which was initially known as a species of Megalosaurus.
Allosauroidea is a superfamily or clade of theropod dinosaurs which contains four families — the Metriacanthosauridae, Allosauridae, Carcharodontosauridae, and Neovenatoridae. Allosauroids, alongside the family Megalosauroidea, were among the apex predators that were active during the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous periods. The most famous and best understood allosauroid is the North American genus Allosaurus.
Orthogoniosaurus was a genus of theropod dinosaur from the late Maastrichtian-age Upper Cretaceous Lameta Formation of Jabalpur, India. It is based on one small, fragmentary tooth.
Shanag is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of Mongolia.
The Twin Mountains Formation, also known as the Twin Mak Formation, is a sedimentary rock formation, within the Trinity Group, found in Texas of the United States of America. It is a terrestrial formation of Aptian age, and is notable for its dinosaur fossils. Dinosaurs from this formation include the large theropod Acrocanthosaurus, the sauropod Sauroposeidon, as well as the ornithopods Tenontosaurus and Convolosaurus. It is the lowermost unit of the lower Cretaceous, lying unconformably on Carboniferous strata. It is overlain by the Glen Rose Formation. It is the lateral equivalent of the lower part of the Antlers Formation.
Shaochilong is an extinct genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur from the mid-Cretaceous Ulansuhai Formation of China. The type species, S. maortuensis, was originally named Chilantaisaurus maortuensis, but was re-described and reclassified in 2009. It was one of the last known carcharodontosaurids to walk the earth. Alongside Mapusaurus from Argentina, they were the only members of the family to live until the end of the Turonian epoch.
The timeline of therizinosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on therizinosaurs. They were unusually long-necked, pot-bellied, and large-clawed herbivorous theropods most closely related to birds. The early history of therizinosaur research occurred in three phases. The first phase was the discovery of scanty and puzzling fossils in Asia by the Central Asiatic Expeditions of the 1920s and Soviet-backed research in the 1950s. This phase resulted in the discovery of the Therizinosaurus cheloniformis type specimen. Soviet paleontologist Evgeny Maleev interpreted these unusual remains as belonging to some kind of gigantic turtle.
This timeline of dromaeosaurid research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the dromaeosaurids, a group of sickle-clawed, bird-like theropod dinosaurs including animals like Velociraptor. Since the Native Americans of Montana used the sediments of the Cloverly Formation to produce pigments, they may have encountered remains of the dromaeosaurid Deinonychus hundreds of years before these fossils came to the attention of formally trained scientists.
Meraxes is a genus of large carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Huincul Formation of Patagonia, Argentina. The genus contains a single species, Meraxes gigas.