Pronunciation: puk-YON-go-SOR-us
Meaning: Pukyong lizard
Author/s: Dong et al. (2001)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Hadong, South Korea
Discovery Chart Position: #486
Pukyongosaurus millenniumi
When Zhiming Dong named Pukyongosaurus in 2001, he assigned it to a titanosauriform family called Euhelopidae, assuming it was closely related to Euhelopus, another East Asian sauropod. He also stated that its remains included seven neck vertebrae (but only showed photographs of four and offered no information about the other three) and a "probable clavicle" (shoulder bone) that turned out to be a tail chevron. Since then, most of the "unique" features used to define it—such as vertebrae shape and chevron structure—have been either criticised as poorly preserved and impossible to evaluate or common among other sauropods and thus can't be considered unique. As a result, most palaeontologists regarded Pukyongosaurus as highly dubious, and a sauropod that was never particularly popular to begin with faded into obscurity, with only a passing mention in the literature.
One thing Dong did get right when he tentatively placed Pukyongosaurus within Titanosauriformes was his placement of Pukyongosaurus within Titanosauriformes, based on its somphospondylus (spongy) vertebrae. In fact, its vertebrae are so packed with somphospondylus-ness that the most recent study placed it within a titanosauriform group called Somphospondyli. But beyond that, as a standalone critter, it's still dubious and defies a more specific classification.
One thing Dong did get right when he tentatively placed Pukyongosaurus within Titanosauriformes was his placement of Pukyongosaurus within Titanosauriformes, based on its somphospondylus (spongy) vertebrae. In fact, its vertebrae are so packed with somphospondylus-ness that the most recent study placed it within a titanosauriform group called Somphospondyli. But beyond that, as a standalone critter, it's still dubious and defies a more specific classification.
(Millennium Pukyong Lizard)Etymology
Pukyongosaurus is derived from "Pukyong" (for Pukyong National University, where co-authors Paik and Kim were employed) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).The species epithet, millenniumi, commemorates the year 2000 new millennium.
Discovery
The remains of Pukyongosaurus were discovered in the Hasandong Formation, Hadong, South Gyeongsanf Province, 470 km southeast of Seoul, Korea, in 1998.The holotype (PKNU-G.102-109) consists of four incomplete neck (cervical) vertebrae and a neck rib, a partial back (dorsal) vertebrae and an incomplete rib, a complete chevron, a "probable clavicle" (collarbone) that turned out to be another chevron, and various bone fragments.
In 2011, Paik et al. assigned a tail vertebra (PKNU GS08-05) to Pukyongosaurus that had been gnawed on by both large and small theropods. Some of the tooth marks are the longest and deepest described to date.
