Eugongbusaurus

"Eugongbusaurus" is the informal name (nomen nudum) given to a genus of dinosaur that lived about 160 to 155 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic. It was either a hypsilophodont, or a less-derived ornithischian. Its fossils were found in the Oxfordian-age Shishugou Formation of Xinjiang, China.

History

The "type species", "Eugongbusaurus wucaiwanensis", was described by Dong Zhiming for two partial skeletons as a second species of the poorly known tooth taxon Gongbusaurus. Fragmentary skeleton IVPP 8302, the type specimen for the new species, included a partial lower jaw, three tail vertebrae, and a partial forelimb. Second specimen IVPP 8303 consisted of two hip vertebrae, eight tail vertebrae, and two complete hind limbs. Dong estimated it as around 1.3 to 1.5 meters long (4.3 to 4.9 ft), and considered it to be a better runner than climber. He assigned the genus Gongbusaurus to the Hypsilophodontidae, a nebulous family of small herbivorous bipedal dinosaurs.[1]

Because dinosaur teeth are generally not distinctive enough to hold a name, it is unsurprising that other paleontologists have suggested removing "G." wucaiwanensis from Gongbusaurus and giving it its own genus.[2] The possible replacement name "Eugongbusaurus"[3] leaked out accidentally and remains informal.

References

  1. ↑ Dong Zhiming (1989). "On a small ornithopod (Gongbusaurus wucaiwanensis sp. nov.) from Kelamaili, Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, China". Vertebrata PalAsiatica 27 (2): 140–146.
  2. ↑ Norman, David B.; Sues, Hans-Dieter; Witmer, Larry M.; Coria, Rodolfo A. (2004). "Basal Ornithopoda". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 393–412. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
  3. ↑ Knoll, Fabien (1999). "The family Fabrosauridae". In Canudo, J.I.; and Cuenca-Bescós, G. (eds.). IV European Workshop on Vertebrate Palaeontology, Albarracin (Teruel, Spain), junio de 1999. Programme and Abstracts, Field guide. Servicio Publicaciones Universidad de Zaragoza. p. 54.
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