Pronunciation: un-gesh-ee-sor-us
Meaning: Ngexi lizard
Author/s: Zhao (unofficially) (1983)
Synonyms: Megalosaurus dapukaensis?
First Discovery: Changdu, Tibet
Discovery Chart Position: #
"Ngexisaurus dapukaensis"
First mentioned merely as "Ngexisaurus" by Zhao Xijin (aka Chao Shichin) in his 1983 "Phylogeny and evolutionary stages of Dinosauria", along with the equally weird-sounding polysacralosauroidea and bothrosauropodoidea, "Ngexisaurus dapukaensis" was bestowed with a binomen by Zhao two years later and assigned to Coelurosauria, as all small theropods were during the 1980s. But it has yet to be described or even officially named. Heck, it's barely had a mention anywhere since.
Bizarrely, Zhao and Cheng (1985) and Zhang and Li (1997) called it "Ngexisaurus changduensis", then Weishampel (2004) added an extra "n" to the initial epithet dapukanensis, claimed it was discovered in Xinjiang, China, and referred it to Ceratosauria: the carnivorous critters from the non-coelurosaur side of the theropod track.
The intended name or what family it represents is impossible to know until an official paper is released, and bearing in mind Zhao's first crack at a description was rejected as "unpublishable" by the IVPP three decades ago as of 2013, we don't expect it to arrive any time soon.
The equally unofficial "Megalosaurus dapukaensis" (Zhao, 1985) from the same area may or not be synonymous.
Bizarrely, Zhao and Cheng (1985) and Zhang and Li (1997) called it "Ngexisaurus changduensis", then Weishampel (2004) added an extra "n" to the initial epithet dapukanensis, claimed it was discovered in Xinjiang, China, and referred it to Ceratosauria: the carnivorous critters from the non-coelurosaur side of the theropod track.
The intended name or what family it represents is impossible to know until an official paper is released, and bearing in mind Zhao's first crack at a description was rejected as "unpublishable" by the IVPP three decades ago as of 2013, we don't expect it to arrive any time soon.
The equally unofficial "Megalosaurus dapukaensis" (Zhao, 1985) from the same area may or not be synonymous.
(Ngexi lizard from Dapuka)Etymology
Ngexisaurus is derived from "Ngexi" (the township where it was discovered) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).The species epithet, dapukaensis, is derived from "Dapuka" (a geographical formation in Tibet) and the Latin "-ensis" (from, place of origin).
Discovery
The remains of Ngexisaurus were discovered in the Dapuka Formation (Chaya group) at Ngexi Township, Changdu (aka Qamdo) Prefecture, Tibet (Xizang), by the Tibetan Scientific Expedition Team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, during the 1970s.
As it hasn't been officially described, it has not been assigned a holotype.
