| Phaedrolosaurus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Coelurosauria |
| Genus: | †Phaedrolosaurus Dong, 1973 |
| Type species | |
| †Phaedrolosaurus ilikensis Dong, 1973 | |
Phaedrolosaurus (meaning "elated lizard") is agenus of dubious coelurosauriantheropoddinosaur, based on a single isolated and non-diagnostictooth possibly from theValanginian-Albian-agedLianmuqin Formation of Wuerho, in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China.
The first known remains ofPhaedrolosaurus were discovered in China during anInstitute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) expedition to China's Wuerho area in 1964.[1] The tooth, IVPP V 4024-1, was in 1973 described and named byDong Zhiming as a new genus and species. Thetype species isPhaedrolosaurus ilikensis. The generic name is derived from the Greek φαιδρός,phaidros, "elated", referring to the agility of the animal. Thespecific name refers to theIlike Formation. Dong stated the thirty-one millimetre long tooth was like those ofDeinonychus, albeit thicker, shorter, and more solid. He regarded the new genus as a possibledromaeosaurid.[2]
As part of the type material of this genus Dong described several skeletal elements from other sites, among them a partial, articulated rightleg.[2] Because this latter limb material showedautapomorphies, distinctive characteristics, and there was no reason to connect it to the non-diagnostic tooth, Rauhut and Xu in 2005 gave this material its own name,Xinjiangovenator parvus. They also recommended regardingPhaedrolosaurus as anomen dubium, a dubious name.[3] Because Dong had not designated aholotype among the several specimens in 1973 assigned toPhaedrolosaurus, in 1977Hans-Dieter Sues had made the tooth thelectotype.[4]
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