''Anomalipes'' (meaning "

Zhao Xijin Zhao Xijin (赵喜进; born c. 1935 died July 21, 2012) was a Chinese paleontologist notable for having named numerous dinosaurs. He was a professor at Beijing's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Biography Zhao Xijin was ...

's unusual

foot The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up o ...

") is an extinct genus of

caenagnathid Caenagnathidae is a family of derived caenagnathoid dinosaurs from the Cretaceous of North America and Asia. They are a member of the Oviraptorosauria, and relatives of the Oviraptoridae. Like other oviraptorosaurs, caenagnathids had specialized ...

oviraptorosauria Oviraptorosaurs ("egg thief lizards") are a group of feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period (geology), Period of what are now Asia and North America. They are distinct for their characteristically short, beaked, parrot-like s ...

n dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous (

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campa ...

age)

Wangshi Group The Wangshi Group () is a geological Group in Shandong, China whose strata date back to the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, approximately . Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the group.Weishampel et al., 2 ...

of China. The genus contains a single species, ''Anomalipes zhaoi'', known from a partial hindlimb.

Discovery and naming

The remains of ''Anomalipes'' were discovered within a ''

Shantungosaurus ''Shantungosaurus'' (meaning "''Shandong Lizard''") is a genus of very large saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaur found in the Late Cretaceous Wangshi Group of the Shandong Peninsula in China, containing a single species, ''Shantungosaurus gigante ...

'' bonebed at the Kugou locality. The holotype (ZCDM V0020, housed at Zhucheng Dinosaur Museum,

Zhucheng Zhucheng () is a county-level city in the southeast of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Weifang city and had at the 2010 census a population of 1,086,222 even though its built-up (''or metro'') area ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

) is an incomplete left hind-limb, including a partial left thigh, shin and shank, a complete metatarsal III and two toe bones. The genus name ''Anomalipes'' is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''anomalus'' (peculiar, abnormal, not easily classified) and ''pes'' (foot), referring to the unusual shape of its foot. The specific name, ''zhaoi'', was named in honour of

References

Caenagnathidae Dinosaur genera Maastrichtian dinosaurs Dinosaurs of China Fossil taxa described in 2018 {{theropod-stub

Discovery and naming

See also

References