Genus
Valid Extinct

Sinosaurus

China lizard
Young 1940

Sinosaurus is an extinct genus of basal theropod dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian). Fossils of the animal have been found in the Lufeng Formation, in the Yunnan Province of China. The type species, S. triassicus, was named by Chung Chieng Young in 1940. A second species, S. sinensis, was originally assigned to Dilophosaurus, but was later reassigned to Sinosaurus. Sinosaurus is morphologically similar to Dilophosaurus including the presence of a similarly shaped cranial crest, though its precise taxonomic position is uncertain, and the two genera may not be closely related.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
16
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Sinosaurus
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Replica. CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Sinosaurus Genus
Fossil sites 16 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇨🇳 China
16
Geological formations
Lufeng
16
Temporal distribution
Sinemurian (199.5–192.9 Ma)
13
Hettangian (201.4–199.5 Ma)
3
Species (2)
Dilophosaurus sinensis subjective synonym of Sinosaurus triassicus 201 Ma
Sinosaurus triassicus 201 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
C.-C. Young. 1940. Preliminary notes on the Lufeng vertebrate fossils. Bulletin of the Geological Society of China 20(3-4):235-239
Bibliography (9)
Q. Liang, P. L. Falkingham, and L. Xing. 2024. Virtual skeleton and body mass for revealing the life strategies of Sinosaurus. Historical Biology DOI ↗
Z.-C. Zhang, T. Wang, and H.-L. You. 2023. A new specimen of Sinosaurus triassicus (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Jurassic of Lufeng, Yunnan, China. Historical Biology DOI ↗
S. Hu. 1993. [A new Theropoda (Dilophosaurus sinensis sp. nov.) from Yunnan, China]. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 31(1):65-69
C.-C. Young. 1966. On a new locality of the Lufengosaurus of Yunnan. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 10(1):64-67
D. J. Simmons. 1965. The non-therapsid reptiles of the Lufeng Basin, Yunnan, China. Fieldiana: Geology 15(1):1-93 DOI ↗
S.-Y. Hu. 1961. [Some reptilian fossils from Lufeng, China]. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 5(3):278-283
C.-C. Young. 1951. The Lufeng saurischian fauna in China. Palaeontologia Sinica, New Series C 13:1-96
C.-C. Young. 1948. On two new saurischians from Lufeng, China. Bulletin of the Geological Society of China 28(1-2):78-90 DOI ↗
C.-C. Young. 1947. On Lufengosaurus magnus Young (sp. nov.) and additional finds of Lufengosaurus huenei Young. Palaeontologia Sinica, New Series C, Whole Series No. 132 12:1-53