Chilantaisaurus was a large theropod, measuring 11 metres (36 ft) long and weighing 2.5–4 metric tons (2.8–4.4 short tons).[2][3][4] While Brusatteet al. (2010) estimated thatChilantaisaurus might have weighed about 6 metric tons (6.6 short tons) based on femur length similar to that ofTyrannosaurus,[5] Personset al. (2020) argued that greater femoral circumference indicates the greater capacity to withstand greater locomotor loads, not greater body mass.[6]
Skeletal diagram showing known elements ofC. tashuikouensis
Hu consideredChilantaisaurus to be acarnosaur related toAllosaurus,[1] though some subsequent studies suggested that it may be aspinosauroid, possibly a primitive member of thespinosaurid family (Sereno, 1998; Chure, 2000; Rauhut, 2001) because it had large claws on the forelimbs thought to be unique to that group. Other studies suggested that it could be a member of an alternate offshoot ofneotetanuran theropods, with some similarities to allosauroids, spinosauroids, andcoelurosaurians.[7]
A 2009 study noted that it was difficult to rule out the possibility thatChilantaisaurus was the same animal as the carnosaurShaochilong, which was thought to be from the same geological formation (a later study indicated that the latter genus actually derives from the Early CretaceousMiaogou Formation[8]). However, they did note an enormous size difference between the two.[9] Further study by Benson, Carrano and Brusatte found that it was not as closely related toShaochilong as first thought, but that it was a carnosaur (of the familyNeovenatoridae), closely related toAllosaurus as Hu had initially thought.[2] Phylogenetic analysis published by Porfiri et al. in 2018 recoveredChilantaisaurus as a primitivecoelurosaurian.[10]
Several species have been described based on very poor remains. The species"Chilantaisaurus" sibiricus (previously informally known as eitherAllosaurus? sibiricus orAntrodemus? sibiricus) is based on a single distalmetatarsal discovered in 1915 in theTurginskaya Svita of theBuryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic,Russia, dating to theEarly Cretaceous periods (Berriasian toHauterivian stages).[11][12][13] It is poorly described, so its relationships cannot be accurately determined (Chure, 2000) and its placement as a species ofChilantaisaurus is highly questionable. "Chilantaisaurus"maortuensis was reclassified asShaochilong maortuensis in 2009.[9]
An additional species named in 1979, "Chilantaisaurus"zheziangensis, based on bones from the foot and a partial tibia,[14] is actually atherizinosaur taxon.[15][16]
The cladogram below follows a 2016 analysis by Sebastián Apesteguía, Nathan D. Smith, Rubén Juarez Valieri, and Peter J. Makovicky based on the dataset of Carrano et al. (2012).[17]
^abBrusatte, S., Benson, R., Chure, D., Xu, X., Sullivan, C., and Hone, D. (2009). "The first definitive carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from Asia and the delayed ascent of tyrannosaurids."Naturwissenschaften,doi:10.1007/s00114-009-0565-2
^Juan D. Porfiri; Rubén D. Juárez Valieri; Domenica D.D. Santos; Matthew C. Lamanna (2018). "A new megaraptoran theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Bajo de la Carpa Formation of northwestern Patagonia".Cretaceous Research.89:302–319.doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.03.014.S2CID134117648.
^Riabinin, 1915. Zamtka o dinozavry ise Zabaykalya [A note on a dinosaur from the trans-Baikal region]. Trudy Geologichyeskago Muszeyah Imeni Petra Velikago Imperatorskoy Academiy Nauk. 8(5), 133-140.
^Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Cretaceous, Asia)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 563-570.ISBN0-520-24209-2.
^Dong, Z. (1979). "Cretaceous dinosaur fossils in southern China". In Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology; Nanjing Institute of Paleontology (eds.).Mesozoic and Cenozoic Redbeds in Southern China (in Chinese). Beijing: Science Press. pp. 342–350.Translated paper
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