| Sinocoelurus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tooth | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Genus: | †Sinocoelurus Yang, 1942 |
| Species: | †S. fragilis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Sinocoelurus fragilis Yang, 1942 | |
Sinocoelurus (meaning "Chinese hollow tail", in reference to location and to relate the newgenus to theNorth AmericanCoelurus) is a genus oftheropoddinosaur from theOxfordian-?Tithonian-ageUpper JurassicKyangyan Series ofSichuan,China. It is an obscuretoothtaxon.
In 1942, theChinesepaleontologistYang Zhongjian (in older references his name is given as C. C. Young) named this genus from IVP AS V232-234, a group of four isolated partial teeth found nearWeiyuan,Guangyuan, Sichuan Basin. He described them as "long, slender, moderately curved and compressed; ridged anterior and posterior sides with no trace of serrations;enamel very thin".[1] He considered the genus to be "coelurosaurian", which at that time meant a small theropod. The most distinctive characteristic of these teeth was their lack ofserrations.[2]
Because of the small amount of material,Sinocoelurus has attracted little attention since its description, outside of reviews. It is usually considered anomen dubium of either coelurosaurian\coelurid affinities (if the source predates the acceptance of Coelurosauria as awastebasket taxon as traditionally used), or uncertain theropod affinities (if published after this). The most recent review classifies it asTetanuraeincertae sedis and dubious,[3] while Wuet al. (2009) presume it belongs to aplesiosaur;[4] either way,Sinocoelurus was areptile.
As a small theropod,Sinocoelurus would have been an agile,bipedalcarnivore.
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