Tugulusaurus
| Tugulusaurus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | †Alvarezsauria |
| Superfamily: | †Alvarezsauroidea |
| Genus: | †Tugulusaurus Dong, 1973 |
| Species: | †T. faciles
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Tugulusaurus faciles Dong, 1973
| |
Tugulusaurus (meaning "Tugulu lizard") is a
People's Republic of China
. It was one of the first members of Alvarezsauria ever discovered.
Discovery
From 1964 dinosaur fossils were excavated in the Junggar Basin of Xinjiang. In 1973 a number of these were described by paleontologist Dong Zhiming, among them the bones of a small theropod which he named Tugulusaurus faciles. The generic name refers to the Tugulu Group. The specific name is derived from Latin facilis, here with the meaning of "easily moving", referring to the agility of the animal as indicated by its "delicate bones".[1]
The
metacarpal is very short: 26 millimetres (1.0 in). The skeleton represents the only remains of the species that have ever been discovered.[2]
Classification
Tugulusaurus was originally classified by Dong in 1973 as a member of the
Alvarezsauria.[5]
References
- ^ Dong, Z.-M. 1973. [Dinosaurs from Wuerho]. Memoirs of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Academia Sinica 11: 45–52 [Chinese]
- ^ .
- ISBN 978-3-540-52084-9.
- ^ Norman, D. B. (1990). "Problematic Theropoda: Coelurosaurs". 280-305 in Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., & Osmólska, H. (eds.) The Dinosauria. Berkeley: University of California Press, Berkeley 1990, xvi-733
- .
