GIGANTSPINOSAURUS
a type of plated stegosaurian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of China.
Pronunciation: JIH-gant-SPY-no-SOR-us
Meaning: Giant-spined lizard
Author/s: Ouyang (
1992)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Sichuan, China
Discovery Chart Position: #368
Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis
(Giant-Spined Lizard from Sichuan)Etymology
Gigantspinosaurus is derived from Latin "gigas" (giant, enormous) and "spina" (spine), in reference to its gigantic shoulder spines, and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).
The species epithet,
sichuanensis, refers means "from Sichuan" in Latin.
Discovery
The remains of
Gigantspinosaurus were discovered in the Upper Shaximiao (Shangshaximiao) Formation at Pengtang in Yinhe Village,
Zhongquan Town, Zigong City, Sichuan Province, China, by Ouyang Hui in 1985. The holotype (ZDM 0019) consists of eight neck, sixteen back, four hip
and several tail vertebrae, both shoulder girdles (the left of which preserves skin impressions), a forelimb, hand bones, pelvic girdle, both thighs (the left of which shows abnormalities suggestive of bone disease), a shin, a calfbone, an ankle, four plates and a pair of large
shoulder spines. Sadly, the skull is missing, but the lower jaws with teeth are present.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Cretaceous
Stage: Oxfordian
Age range: 161-157 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Herbivore
Gigantspinosaurus
sichuanensis
References
• Gao R, Zhu S and Huang D (1986) "The discovery of some stegosaurian shoulder spines in Zigong Municipality".
Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 24: 78-79.
[Chinese.]
• Ouyang H (1992) "Discovery of Gigantspinosaurus sichanensis and its scapular spine orientation".
Abstracts and Summaries for Youth Academic Symposium on New Discoveries and Ideas in Stratigraphic Paleontology: 47–49. [Chinese.]
• Maidment SCR and Wei G (2006) "A review of the Late Jurassic stegosaurs (Dinosauria, Stegosauria) from the People's Republic of China".
Geological Magazine, 143(5): 621-634. DOI: 10.1017/S0016756806002500.
• Xing LD, Peng GZ and Shu CK (2008) "Stegosaurian skin impressions from the Upper Jurassic Shangshaximiao Formation, Sichuan, China: A new observation".
Geological Bulletin of China, 27: 1049-1053.
• Paul GS (2010) "
The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs".
• Hao B, Peng G, Yong YE and You H (2018) "Redescription of
Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis (Dinosauria, Stegosauria) from the Late Jurassic of Sichuan, Southwestern China".
Acta Geologica Sinica, 92(2): 431-441 (English edition).
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Atkinson, L.
"
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