Gasosaurus - Meaning : Gas Lizard
Gasosaurus (gas-o-saw-us) was a tetanuran dinosaur discovered in Dashanpu, China. Gasosaurus lived during Bathonian and Callovian Ages during the mid-late Jurassic Period, around 164 million years ago. The scientific name, meaning 'Gas Lizard', honours the gasoline company that found the Dashanpu fossil quarry in Sichuan Province, now named as the Lower Shaximiao Formation.
Gasosaurus Characteristics
Gasosaurus measured around 4 metres in length and 1.3 metres in height. It weighed around 150 kilograms making it a medium sized dinosaur. Gasosaurus had strong legs but short arms. This dinosaur had very powerful jaws, a large head and a stiff tail.
Gasosaurus was a carnivorous dinosaur and probably hunted in packs.
The first and to date only fossils that were missing the skull were recovered in 1985 during the construction of a gas facility. The fossils were defined as the type species Gasosaurus constructus by the paleontologists Dong Zhiming and Tang Zilu. There have still been very few fossils retrieved, so exact details are unknown. Specifically, no skull has been found. Because so few fossils of Gasosaurus have been found, it is possible that this dinosaur may have been misclassified and is in fact a Megalosaurus or Kaijiangosaurus. Only future discoveries can settle this issue for sure.
GASOSAURUS CLASSIFICATION: |
|
Kingdom: |
Animalia (animals) |
Phylum: |
Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain) |
Class: |
Sauropsida |
Superorder: |
Dinosauria |
Order: |
Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs |
Suborder: |
Theropoda - bipedal carnivores |
Infraorder: |
Carnosauria |
Genus: |
Gasosaurus |
Species: |
G. constructus, Dong & Tang, 1985 |
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