Pronunciation: sih-NOO-soh-NAH-sus
Meaning: Sinusoid snout
Author/s: Xu and Wang (2004)
Synonyms: Sinucerasaurus (Xu and Norell, 2006)
First Discovery: Liaoning, China
Discovery Chart Position: #543
Sinusonasus magnodens
(Big toothed sinusoid nose)Etymology
Sinusonasus is derived from "sinusoid" and the latin "nasus" (nose). Together, this refers to the "wavy" border on the top edge of its snout bones when viewing the skull from the side. It's perhaps a misnomer, though, as coining-author Xu Xing now thinks this is not a real feature (pers.comm).
The species epithet, magnodens, means "big-toothed" in Latin.
Discovery
The remains of Sinusonasus were discovered at the Lujiatun locality in the Yixian Formation, Beipiao, Liaoning Province, China.
The holotype (IVPP V11527) is a skeleton missing the forelimbs and shoulder girdles, and vertebrae from the neck and back. Its thigh is around 141 mm in length.
