Sinosaurus
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Sinosaurus Temporal range: Early Jurassic, 201–196 Ma |
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| Mounted cast | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Tetanurae |
| Genus: |
†Sinosaurus Young, 1948 |
| Type species | |
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†Sinosaurus triassicus Young, 1948 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Sinosaurus (meaning "Chinese lizard") was a tetanuran theropod dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic Period. Its fossils were found in the Lufeng Formation, in Yunnan Province, China. It was a bipedal carnivore. It was approximately 5.6 metres (18 feet) long.
According to Carrano et al. (2012) D. sinensis, now considered to be the same as Sinosaurus triassicus, can be distinguished based on the fact that a vertical groove is present on the lateral premaxilla adjacent to contact with the maxilla.
Sinosaurus is the only "dilophosaurid" known from a complete braincase. Cryolophosaurus, Dilophosaurus, Zupaysaurus and Coelophysis kayentakatae are all known from partial braincases. Two partial braincases were found before 2012, and are probably mostly complete, except that large sections are obscured by sediments. In 2011, an exceptionally well-preserved braincase was found, only missing the frontal bones and orbitosphenoid.
KMV 8701 was originally discovered in 1987. The specimen was identified as a new species, and was named Dilophosaurus sinensis. Then in 1994, during a field expedition, a more complete specimen was found, and was assigned to the same species. In 2003, Dong Zhiming studied the material of Sinosaurus, finding it to be quite similar to Dilophosaurus sinensis. As Sinosaurus was named earlier, by Young in 1948, "Dilophosaurus" sinensis became its junior synonym. The composite term Sinosaurus comes from Sinae, the Latin word for the Chinese, and the Greek word sauros (σαυρος) meaning "lizard"; thus "Chinese lizard". The specific name, triassicus, refers to the Triassic, the period that the fossils were originally thought to date from. Sinosaurus was described and named by Chung Chien Young, who is known as the 'Father of Chinese Vertebrate Paleontology', in 1948.
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