Gigantspinosaurus
Name:
Gigantspinosaurus
(Giant-spined lizard).
Phonetic: Ji-gant-spy-noe-sore-us.
Named By: Ouyang - 1992.
Classification: Chordata Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Thyreophora, Stegosauria.
Species: G. sichuanensis (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Around 4.2 meters long.
Known locations: China, Sichuan Province -
Shaximiao Formation.
Time period: Oxfordian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial skeleton, possibly
of a sub adult. Skull unknown.
At
a glance the name Gigantspinosaurus gives the
impression of an
oversized gargantuan Spinosaurus,
a particularly exciting but
frightening prospect when you consider what that dinosaur was. In
realty however Gigantspinosaurus actually a
stegosaur, perhaps the
farthest a dinosaur can get from being one of the spinosaurs.
The
name Gigantspinosaurus is actually a reference to
the huge shoulder
spines that grown from the shoulder area, similar to some like
Kentrosaurus
but upon a larger scale. These spines are thought to
have provided Gigantspinosaurus with additional
defence from large
theropod dinosaurs like Sinraptor,
but the exaggerated size may have
also served as a display function. The other plates and spines were
small in comparison to other stegosaurs, and this seems to fit in
with the notion that Gigantspinosaurus is one of
the most basal
stegosaurs known. Primitive forms are noted for having shoulder
spines and small plates, while more advanced forms like Stegosaurus
have
better developed plates but lack shoulder spines.
Gigantspinosaurus
is still sometimes credited as being a nomen nudum (naked name) and
not representative of a specific genus, but this all stems back to an
incomplete translation of the original Chinese description. Today,
palaeontologists readily recognise Gigantspinosaurus
as a basal
stegosaur, and this dinosaur has been the subject of a lot of study
since. The type species name G. sichuanensis
means ‘from
Sichuan’.
Further reading
- Discovery of Gigantspinosaurus sichanensis and
its scapular spine
orientation. - Abstracts and Summaries for Youth Academic Symposium on
New Discoveries and Ideas in Stratigraphic Paleontology (in Chinese).
null: 47–49. - H. Ouyang - 1992.
- Redescription of Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis
(Dinosauria,
Stegosauria) from the Late Jurassic of Sichuan, Southwestern China. -
Acta Geologica Sinica. 92 (2): 431–441. - B. Hao, Q. Zhang, G. Peng, Y.
Ye & H. You - 2018.
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