Sinotyrannus
Name:
Sinotyrannus
(Chinese tyrant).
Phonetic: Sigh-noe-tie-ran-nus.
Named By: Q. Ji, S. A. Ji & L.-J.Zhang -
2009.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Proceratosauridae.
Species: S. kazuoensis (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Estimated at about 9 to 10 meters long.
Known locations: China, Liaoning Province -
Jiufotang Formation.
Time period: Aptian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Very incomplete remains of
the skull, dentary (lower jaw), a few vertebrae, hip and
finger metarsals.
Although Sinotyrannus has been described from very incomplete material, the palaeontologists who described this dinosaur have managed to conclude that it is a close relative of the primitive tyrannosaurs. Additionally they have also compared the remains to similar dinosaurs and come up with a rough length estimate of up to ten meters long for the living dinosaur. This suggests that Sinotyrannus was the largest predatory dinosaur in the Jehol Biota, the ecosystem of Liaoning Province during the Aptian stages of the Cretaceous. Here there were few rivals to Sinotyrannus, but the large feathered tyrannosaur Yutyrannus from the nearby Yixian Formation was almost as big as Sinotyrannus.
Further reading
- First large tyrannosauroid theropod from the Early Cretaceous Jehol
Biota in northeastern China. - Geological Bulletin of China 28 (10):
1369–1374. - Q. Ji, S. A. Ji & L.-J.Zhang - 2009.
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