Chingkankousaurus

Chingkankousaurus; Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 85–75 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Clade:	†Pantyrannosauria
Genus:	†Chingkankousaurus; Young, 1958
Species:	†C. fragilis
Binomial name
	†Chingkankousaurus fragilis; Young, 1958

Chingkankousaurus (named for Ch'ing-kang-kou, sic for Wade–Giles Chin1-kang1-k'ou3, pinyin Jin-gang-kou 'diamond port' Chinese: 金刚口 village) is a genus of theropod dinosaur containing the single species Chingkankousaurus fragilis.^[1]^[2] C. fragilis is known only from a single fossilized bone fragment (specimen number IVPP V836) from the late Cretaceous Period Wangshi Series of Shandong province in eastern China.^[1]

Description[edit]

Chingkankousaurus was identified by Yang Zhongjian (C.C. Young) in 1958 from a single "scapula",^[1] which he said "basically resembles that of Allosaurus but is smaller." It had been proposed that the scapula was a rib or gastralia fragment, but this was considered unlikely in a 2013 study. Molnar et al. (1990) thought the scapula may have belonged to a tyrannosaurid. Chure (2001) assigned it to the Coelurosauria, and more recent research has supported the initial identification as a type of tyrannosauroid, with some even arguing it to be a synonym of Tarbosaurus bataar,^[3] though it is currently considered a nomen dubium among that group.^[2]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c C.-C. Young. (1958). The dinosaurian remains of Laiyang, Shantung. Palaeontologia Sinica, New Series C, Whole Number 42(16):1-138
^ ^a ^b Brusatte, S. L., Hone, D. W. E., and Xu, X. (2013). "Phylogenetic revision of Chingkankousaurus fragilis, a forgotten tyrannosauroid specimen from the Late Cretaceous of China." In: J.M. Parrish, R.E. Molnar, P.J. Currie, and E.B. Koppelhus (eds.), Tyrannosaur! Studies in Tyrannosaurid Paleobiology. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN.
^ Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2004). "Tyrannosauroidea". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (Second ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8.