Siluosaurus

Last updated

Siluosaurus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 130–112  Ma
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Genus: Siluosaurus
Dong, 1997
Species:
S. zhanggiani
Binomial name
Siluosaurus zhanggiani
Dong, 1997

Siluosaurus (meaning "Silu (Chinese for Silk Road, referring to the discovery location) lizard") [1] is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Barremian-Albian-age Lower Cretaceous Xinminbao Group of Gansu, China. It is based on the specimen IVPP V.11117 (1-2), which consists of two teeth. It is an obscure genus, with no papers doing more than mentioning it since it was described in 1997. [1] The type species is S. zhanggiani. [1]

Contents

History

The holotype teeth of Siluosaurus were recovered during the 1992 Sino-Japanese Silk Road Dinosaur Expedition in the lower portion of the Xinminbao Group. One tooth, seven millimetres long, was from the upper beak (premaxilla), and the other, 3.7 millimetres high, was from the cheek region of the upper jaw (maxilla). Dong Zhiming, who named the genus in 1997, suggested that it was a hypsilophodontid, and described the teeth as the smallest ornithopod teeth yet known. The type species is Siluosaurus zhanggiani. The specific name honours Zhang Qian, the Chinese diplomat who reconnoitred the Silk Road in the second century B.C. [1] It was regarded without comment as a dubious name in the most recent review of basal ornithopods, [2] a not-uncommon fate for dinosaur names based on teeth.

Paleobiology

As a hypsilophodontid or other basal ornithopod, Siluosaurus would have been a bipedal herbivore. Its size has not been estimated, but as most adult hypsilophodonts were 1–2 meters (3.3–6.6 ft) long, [2] this genus would have been of similar to smaller size, based on Dong's comments.

Related Research Articles

<i>Valdosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Valdosaurus is a genus of bipedal herbivorous iguanodont ornithopod dinosaur found on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere in England, Spain and possibly also Romania. It lived during the Early Cretaceous.

<i>Archaeoceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Archaeoceratops, meaning "ancient horned face", is a genus of basal neoceratopsian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of north central China. It appears to have been bipedal and quite small with a comparatively large head. Unlike many later ceratopsians it had no horns, possessing only a small bony frill projecting from the back of its head.

Xiaosaurus, is a genus of small herbivorous dinosaur from the middle Jurassic, approximately 169 to 163.5 mya. Xiaosaurus lived in what is now the Sichuan Basin of China.

<i>Shunosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Shunosaurus, meaning "shu lizard", is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) beds in Sichuan Province in China, approximately 159±2 million years ago. The name derives from "Shu", an ancient name for the Sichuan province.

Stegosaurides is a genus of herbivorous thyreophoran dinosaur. It lived during the Cretaceous. Its fossils were found in the Xinminbao Group near Heishan in Gansu Province in China. These fossils consist of fragmentary material, including dermal spine elements. The genus is occasionally misspelled as "Stegosauroides".

Chiayusaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur known from teeth found in China and possibly also South Korea. Two species have been named for this obscure genus, though only the type, C. lacustris, is still seen as valid. It was originally named as Chiayüsaurus, but the ICZN does not permit special characters, so the name was corrected to Chiayusaurus. The obsolete name can still be seen in older sources, though. As a sauropod, Chiayusaurus would have been a large, quadrupedal herbivore.

<i>Chungkingosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Chungkingosaurus, meaning "Chongqing Lizard", is a genus of herbivorous dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Upper Shaximiao Formation in what is now China. It is a member of the Stegosauria.

<i>Probactrosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Probactrosaurus is an early herbivorous hadrosauroid iguanodont dinosaur. It lived in China during the Late Cretaceous period.

Hudiesaurus is a herbivorous sauropod genus of dinosaur from China. The fossil remains of Hudiesaurus were in 1993 found by a Chinese-Japanese expedition near Qiketai in Shanshan, Xinjiang province. The type species, Hudiesaurus sinojapanorum, was named and described by Dong Zhiming in 1997. The generic name is derived from Mandarin hudie, "butterfly" and refers to a flat butterfly-shaped process on the front base of the vertebral spine. The specific name refers to the members of the Sino-Japan Silk Road Dinosaur Expedition but can also be read as "central part" in Chinese, a pun on the Japanese Chunichi Shinbun press group, which financed the research.

Gongbusaurus is a genus of ornithischian, perhaps ornithopod, dinosaur that lived between about 160 and 157 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic period. A small herbivore, it is very poorly known. Two species have been assigned to it, but as the original name is based on teeth, there is no concrete evidence to connect the two species. Its fossils have been found in China.

Microhadrosaurus is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Campanian or Maastrichtian-age Upper Cretaceous Yuanpu Formation of Guangdong, China. Although its name identifies it as a small hadrosaur, it is based on juvenile remains, and the size of the adult hadrosaur is unknown.

<i>Nanshiungosaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Nanshiungosaurus is a genus of therizinosaurid that lived in what is now Asia during the Late Cretaceous of South China. The type species, Nanshiungosaurus brevispinus, was first discovered in 1974 and described in 1979 by Dong Zhiming. It is represented by a single specimen preserving most of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae with the pelvis. A supposed and unlikely second species, "Nanshiungosaurus" bohlini, was found in 1992 and described in 1997. It is also represented by vertebrae but this species however, differs in geological age and lacks authentic characteristics compared to the type, making its affinity to the genus unsupported.

<i>Huanhepterus</i> Genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous

Huanhepterus is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous period of what is now Qingyang, Gansu, China.

The Xīnmínbǎo Group is a group of geological formations in north central China. They occur across a large depression between the Altai mountains of Mongolia to the north and the Qilian mountains of the Qinghai Plateau to the south, in the Gōngpóquán (公婆泉) and Suànjǐngzi (算井子) basins, and also in the neighbouring Jiuquan Basin.

Subashi Formation

The Subashi Formation is a Late Cretaceous formation from the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of western China. Initially described by Dong Zhiming in 1977, the formation contains remains of Tarbosaurus which were initially described as a separate taxon Shanshanosaurus huoyanshanensis. Remains of a sauropod, likely Nemegtosaurus, and a hadrosaurid, likely Jaxartosaurus, have also been found.

Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1997.

<i>Gongpoquansaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Gongpoquansaurus is an extinct genus of basal hadrosauroid dinosaur that was not formally named until 2014, while the name was a nomen nudum for many years previously. It is known from IVPP V.11333, a partial skull and postcranial skeleton. It was collected in 1992 at locality IVPP 9208–21, from the Albian Zhonggou Formation, in Mazongshan, Gansu Province, China. The specimen was first described and named by Lü Junchang in 1997 as the third species of Probactrosaurus, Probactrosaurus mazongshanensis. Following its description, several studies found it to be less derived than the type species of Probactrosaurus in relation to Hadrosauridae. Therefore, "Gongpoquansaurus" had been suggested, yet informally, as a replacement generic name. In 2014, the species was formally redescribed, and the describers erected Gongpoquansaurus.

<i>Convolosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Convolosaurus is a genus of basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Twin Mountains Formation from Proctor Lake in Comanche County, Texas. The type and only species is Convolosaurus marri.

The China-Canada Dinosaur Project was a six-year series of palaeontological expeditions carried out by scientists from China and Canada.

Rhomaleopakhus is a genus of mamenchisaurid, sauropod, dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Kalaza Formation of China. The type and only species is Rhomaleopakhus turpanensis.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Zhiming, Dong (1997). "A small ornithopod from Mazongshan area, Gansu Province, China". In Dong Zhiming (ed.). Sino-Japanese Silk Road Dinosaur Expedition. Beijing: China Ocean Press. pp. 24–26. ISBN   7-5027-4298-0.
  2. 1 2 Norman, David B.; Sues, Hans-Dieter; Witmer, Larry M.; Coria, Rodolfo A. (2004). "Basal Ornithopoda". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 393–412. ISBN   0-520-24209-2.