''Shanyangosaurus'' (meaning "
Shanyang lizard") is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of
theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally ...
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
found in
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ning ...
,
China, and known only from a partial sacrum, partial scapula, humeri, femur, tibia, metatarsals, and phalanges found in the
Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interv ...
aged
Shanyang Formation.
["Table 4.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 77.] The bones are reportedly hollow;
[Xue, Zhang, Bi, Yue and Chen (1996). The development and environmental changes of the intermontane basins in the Eastern part of Qinling Mountains. Geological Publishing House, Beijing. . 179 pages.] this, along with other features of the
femur
The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates wit ...
and known foot bones, suggest it is a member of the
coelurosauria
Coelurosauria (; from Greek, meaning "hollow tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs.
Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, ty ...
, but a specific family cannot be determined without more material. Holtz ''et al.'' assigned ''Shanyangosaurus'' to
Avetheropoda
Avetheropoda, or "bird theropods", is a clade that includes carnosaurians and coelurosaurs to the exclusion of other dinosaurs.
Definition
Avetheropoda was named by Gregory S. Paul in 1988, and was first defined as a clade by Currie and Padi ...
.
[T. R. Holtz, R. E. Molnar, and P. J. Currie (2004). Basal Tetanurae. In D. B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, & H. Osmólska (eds.), The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press, Berkeley 71-110]
References
Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia
Prehistoric coelurosaurs
Fossil taxa described in 1996
{{theropod-stub