Yangchuanosaurus
| Yangchuanosaurus Temporal range: Late Jurassic
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| Genus: | Yangchuanosaurus Dong et al., 1978
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Yangchuanosaurus was a theropod dinosaur that lived in China during the late Oxfordian (and possibly Kimmeridgian) stage of the Late Jurassic, and was similar in size and appearance to its North American contemporary, Allosaurus. It hails from the Upper Shaximiao Formation and was the largest predator in a landscape which included the sauropods Mamenchisaurus and Omeisaurus as well as the Stegosaurs Chialingosaurus, Tuojiangosaurus and Chungkingosaurus
Description
The type specimen of Y. shangyouensis had a skull 82 cm (2.7 ft) long, and its total body length was estimated at about 8 m (26 ft).[1] Another specimen, assigned to the new species Y. magnus, was even larger, with a skull length of 1.11 m (3.6 ft).[2] It may have been up to 10.8 m (35.4 ft) long, and weighed as much as 3.4 metric tons (3.7 short tons).[3] There was a bony knob on its nose and multiple hornlets and ridges, similar to Ceratosaurus.
It had a massive tail that was about half its length.
Discovery and species
In June 1977, an almost complete skeleton of what was to be named Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis was uncovered by a construction worker during the construction of the Shangyou Reservoir Dam in the Yongchuan District. Since then further skeletons have been recovered.
Gregory S. Paul (1988) regarded this genus as the same as Metriacanthosaurus, but this has not been supported.
Museum exhibitions
- The original skeleton of Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis is on display at the Municipal Museum of Chongqing, as is some material of Y. magnus. Another, recovered from Xuanhan County in Sichuan, is on display in the Beijing Museum of Natural History.
References
- ^ Dong, Zhiming; Zhang, Yihong; Li, Xuanmin; Zhou, Shiwu (1978). "A new carnosaur from Yongchuan County, Sichuan Province" (PDF). Ke Xue Tong Bao. 23 (5): 302–04.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Dong, Zhiming; Shiwu, Zhou; Zhang, Yihong (1983). "Dinosaurs from the Jurassic of Sichuan" (PDF). Palaeontologica Sinica, New Series C. 162 (23): 1–136.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Paul, Gregory S. (1988). "Eustreptospondylids and Metriacanthosaurs". Predatory Dinosaurs of the World. Simon & Schuster. pp. 286–93. ISBN 0671619462.
- Dong Zhiming (1988). Dinosaurs from China. China Ocean Press, Beijing & British Museum (Natural History). ISBN 0-565-01073-5.
- Dong Zhiming (1992). Dinosaurian Faunas of China. China Ocean Press, Beijing. ISBN 3-540-52084-8.
- Fantastic Facts About Dinosaurs (ISBN 0-7525-3166-2)
