| Gasosaurus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Name | Gasosaurus | |||
| Order | Saurischia | |||
| Suborder | Theropoda | |||
| Class | Carnosauria | |||
| Name Translation | Gas lizard | |||
| Period | Mid-Late Jurassic | |||
| Location | China | |||
| Diet | Meat | |||
| Size | 12 ft (4 m) | |||
Gasosaurus is an extinct genus of carnosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of China. It was named when Chinese natural gas miners found a partial skeleton and brought it to paleontologist Don Zhiming.
Discovery and naming[]
Gasosaurus was first discovered in 1985 in the Shaximiao Formation in Sichuan, China. Its discovery was an accident when workers for the Constructus Gas Company found an incomplete skeleton in the ground. Work had to be halted as an entire digsite had been found, which would later bring several better-known dinosaurs to light.
Gasosaurus's name translates to "gasoline lizard", in reference to it being found by a gas company. Its species name, constructus, fully refers to the name of the company it was discovered by. "Gas" also means "make trouble" in Chinese.
Description[]
Gasosaurus was a smaller to mid-sized theropod from Late Jurassic China. It is known from a partial skeleton, consisting of a humerus, hip, a left leg, the pubis & ischium, and several vertebrae. While these fossils aren't enough to paint a full image as to what it may have looked like, guesswork can be made based on related species.
Classification[]
Considering Gasosaurus's fragmentary nature, its classification is uncertain. It is currently a metriacanthosaurid, though it has also been labeled as a coelurosaur or basal tetanuran. Its fossils might belong to Kaijiangosaurus, a possible megalosaurid. However, this species is also fragmentary, so comparing remains is challenging.
Paleoecology[]
Living in the Shaximiao Formation, it had a variety of prey to hunt. It lived with many sauropods, some stegosaurs, and other theropods. It may have hunted stegosaurs in small groups, or mostly fed on the kills that larger theropods like Yangchuanosaurus fed on. Similarly sized theropods Xuanhanosaurus and Kaijiangosaurus lived alongside it, possibly forming competition among smaller predators.
Gallery[]
