Kelmayisaurus
Name:
Kelmayisaurus.
Phonetic: Kel-may-e-sore-us.
Named By: Z. Dong - 1973.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Carcharodontosauridae.
Species: K. petrolicus
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Uncertain.
Known locations: China, Xinjiang - Lianmugin
Formation.
Time period: Late Aptian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial left maxilla and
partial left mandible (lower jaw).
Kelmayisaurus
is a genus of carcharodontosaurid
dinosaur that lived in China during
the early Cretaceous. Kelmayisaurus is currently
only known by
partial upper and lower jaws, and because of this the exact size of
Kelmayisaurus is still unknown. There are still
reports of a second
species named K. “grandis” approaching sizes of up to twenty-two
meters long, something that if true would make Kelmayisaurus
the
largest theropod dinosaur ever. The reality of the matter however is
that this claim appeared in a children’s book and that K.
“grandis” was based upon a single vertebra that modern
palaeontologists are certain belongs to a sauropod dinosaur, and not
a theropod. This means that K. “grandis” does not exist, and
there is no evidence at all that Kelmayisaurus grew
to twenty-two
meters in length.
The
only valid species of Kelmayisaurus is the type
species K.
petrolicus, and as mentioned above the size of this
species is
indeterminate at the time of writing. The holotype fossils of
Kelmayisaurus however have been noted as being
similar to the genus
Eocarcharia.
Further reading
- [Dinosaurs from Wuerho]. Reports of Paleontological Expedition
to Sinkiang (II): Pterosaurian Fauna from Wuerho, Sinkiang.
- Memoirs of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and
Paleoanthropology, Academia Sinica 11:45-52. - Z. Dong -
1973.
- A reassessment of Kelmayisaurus petrolicus, a
large theropod
dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. - Acta Palaeontologica
Polonica. - Stephen L. Brusatte, Roger B. J. Benson
& Xing Xu - 2011.
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