Pronunciation: fee-DROH-lo-SOR-us
Meaning: Nimble lizard
Author/s: Dong (1973)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Xinjiang, China
Discovery Chart Position: #232
Phaedrolosaurus ilikensis
Based on a single tooth — similar to those of Dromaeosaurus but thicker, shorter, and more robust, by all accounts — renowned Chinese palaeontologist Zhiming Dong named Phaedrolosaurus and managed to assign a right leg to it from an entirely different locality. On top of that, many experts reckon the tooth hails from the Lianmugin Formation of Wuerho, yet the species name chosen by Dong honours the Ilike Formation. It's not looking good already.
As far as fossilized legs go, the one that Phaedrolosaurus laid claim to was quite a good one, with several distinct features of the tibia and fibula (shin and calf) that set it apart from all other theropod dinosaurs. It appears to belong to a coelurosaur, possibly a maniraptoran, or maybe a relative of the Asian theropod Bagaraatan. Unfortunately, it no longer belongs to Phaedrolosaurus because Oliver Rauhut and Xing Xu used it to anchor a new species of dinosaur — Xinjiangovenator parvus — in 2005, which left Phaedrolosaurus attached to a solitary non-diognostic tooth and is thus a nomen dubium.
Dong's own description does not list a single feature to distinguish this tooth from any other theropod teeth.
As far as fossilized legs go, the one that Phaedrolosaurus laid claim to was quite a good one, with several distinct features of the tibia and fibula (shin and calf) that set it apart from all other theropod dinosaurs. It appears to belong to a coelurosaur, possibly a maniraptoran, or maybe a relative of the Asian theropod Bagaraatan. Unfortunately, it no longer belongs to Phaedrolosaurus because Oliver Rauhut and Xing Xu used it to anchor a new species of dinosaur — Xinjiangovenator parvus — in 2005, which left Phaedrolosaurus attached to a solitary non-diognostic tooth and is thus a nomen dubium.
Dong's own description does not list a single feature to distinguish this tooth from any other theropod teeth.
Etymology
Phaedrolosaurus is derived from the Ancient Greek "phaidros" (bright) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard), referring to this critter's assumed nimbleless and agility. The species epithet, ilike, refers to the Ilike Formation.
Discovery
The first remains of Phaedrolosaurus were discovered in the Lianmugin Formation of Wuerho, Xinjiang, China, during an Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) expedition to China's Wuerho area in 1964.Zhiming Dong described it but never did pluck a holotype from his hotch potch of remains, so Hans-Dieter Sues made its single thirty-one millimetre long tooth the lectotype (IVPP V 4024-1) in 1977.
