| Sinosaurus Temporal range: Early Jurassic |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| (unranked): | Tetanurae |
| Genus: | Sinosaurus Young, 1948 |
| Species | |
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Sinosaurus (meaning "Chinese lizard") was a tetanuran theropod dinosaur which lived during the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic Period. Its fossils were found in the Lufeng Formation, in Yunnan Province, China. It was a bipedal carnivore. There is currently insufficient information available to reliably estimate its dimensions.
The type species Sinosaurus triassicus was described in 1948, by Chinese paleontologist Chung Chien Young.[1] The generic name is derived from Sinae, the Latin name for the Chinese. The specific name refers to the Trias, the period the fossils were originally thought to date from. The holotype, VP AS V34, was found in the Lower Lufeng Formation, which today is seen as Sinemurian. It consists of a maxilla (upper jaw), a lower jaw fragment and teeth. Later other fragments were referred to Sinosaurus.[2]
Originally thought to be a coelophysoid related to Dilophosaurus, Oliver Rauhut in 2003 showed Sinosaurus to be a more advanced theropod, related to Cryolophosaurus and "Dilophosaurus" sinensis.[3]
The name should not be confused with Sinusonasus.