Sinocoelurus (meaning "Chinese hollow tail", in reference to location and to relate the new genus to the North American Coelurus) is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Oxfordian-?Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Kyangyan Series of Sichuan, China. It is an obscure tooth taxon.
| Sinocoelurus Temporal range: Upper Jurassic,
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Genus: | †Sinocoelurus Yang, 1942 |
| Species: | †S. fragilis
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| Binomial name | |
| †Sinocoelurus fragilis Yang, 1942
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History
editIn 1942, the Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian (in older references his name is given as C. C. Young) named this genus from IVP AS V232-234, a group of four isolated partial teeth found near Weiyuan, Guangyuan, Sichuan Basin. He described them as "long, slender, moderately curved and compressed; ridged anterior and posterior sides with no trace of serrations; enamel very thin".[1] He considered the genus to be "coelurosaurian", which at that time meant a small theropod. The most distinctive characteristic of these teeth was their lack of serrations.[2]
Because of the small amount of material, Sinocoelurus has attracted little attention since its description, outside of reviews. It is usually considered a nomen dubium of either coelurosaurian\coelurid affinities (if the source predates the acceptance of Coelurosauria as a wastebasket taxon as traditionally used), or uncertain theropod affinities (if published after this). The most recent review classifies it as Tetanurae incertae sedis and dubious,[3] while Wu et al. (2009) presume it belongs to a plesiosaur;[4] either way, Sinocoelurus was a reptile.
Paleobiology
editAs a small theropod, Sinocoelurus would have been an agile, bipedal carnivore.
References
edit- ^ Glut, D.F. (1997). "Sinocoelurus". Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company. p. 825. ISBN 978-0-89950-917-4.
- ^ Yang Zhongjian. (1942). Fossil vertebrates from Kuangyuan, N. Szechuan, China. Bulletin of the Geological Society of China 22(3-4):293-309.
- ^ Holtz Jr.; T.R., Molnar, R.E & Currie, P.J. (2004). "Basal Tetanurae". The Dinosauria (second ed.). University of California Press. pp. 71–110. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ X.-C. Wu, P. J. Currie, Z. Dong, S. Pan, and T. Wang. (2009). A new theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Lufeng, Yunnan, China. Acta Geologica Sinica 83(1):9-24
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