| Chuandongocoelurus Temporal range: 165 Ma Middle Jurassic |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| (unranked): | Tetanurae |
| Superfamily: | Megalosauroidea[1] |
| Genus: | Chuandongocoelurus He, 1984 |
| Species | |
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Chuandongocoelurus ( /tʃwɑːnˌdɒŋɵsɨˈlʊərəs/ chwahn-dong-ə-si-loor-əs; Chuandong and Greek Coelurus - koilos meaning "hollow" and oura meaning "tail") named after the Chuandong in Sichuan Province, China, was a genus of tetanuran theropod dinosaur first described by Chinese paleontologist He in 1984. The formation in which it was discovered was the Lower Shaximiao Formation, part of the Dashanpu Formation, meaning Chuandongocoelurus dates to the Bathonian or Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic. It was initially described as a coelurid[2] (at the time a wastebasket taxon including almost all small theropods). Norman (1990) considered it to be an indeterminate theropod.[3] More recently, Benson (2008, 2010) and Benson et al. (2010) found it to be the sister taxon of Monolophosaurus, together forming a clade belonging either to Megalosauroidea[4][5] or outside of Megalosauroidea in Tetanurae.[6]
Chuandongocoelurus is known from a single partial skeleton, mostly from the torso and pelvic regions. The specimen has unfused neurocentral sutures in its vertebrae, meaning that the animal was immature at the time of death.