Chilantaisaurus

Name: Chilantaisaurus ‭(‬Chilantai lizard‭)‬.
Phonetic: Chi-lan-tay-sore-us.
Named By: Hu‭ ‬-‭ ‬1964.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Saurischia,‭ ‬Theropoda,‭ ‬Allosauroidea,‭ ‬Neovenatoridae.
Species: C.‭ ‬tashuikouensis‭ (‬type‭)‬.‭ ‬C.‭ ‬sibiricus.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Uncertain due to lack of remains.
Known locations: China,‭ ‬Inner Mongolia‭ ‬-‭ ‬Ulansuhai Formation.
Time period: Turonian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Sets of partial remains.

       Chilantaisaurus has had a jumbled taxominc history since its initial discovery mainly due to the inclusion of fragmentary remains that were later found to represent other,‭ ‬although similar dinosaurs.‭ ‬One example is Chilantaisaurus maortuensis which has been found to represent a carcharodontosaurid theropod and has since been renamed Shaochilong.‭ ‬Another current species of Chilantaisaurus,‭ ‬C.‭ ‬sibiricus,‭ ‬is considered dubious because it is based upon a single fourth metatarsal‭ (‬foot bone‭)‬.‭ ‬If C.‭ ‬sibricus does indeed represent a Chilantaisaurus,‭ ‬then the temporal range of the genus would extend down to the Berriasian to Hauterivian stages of the early Cretaceous.
       The type species of C.‭ ‬tashuikouensis has also been interpreted in a few different ways.‭ ‬First described as an allosaurid,‭ ‬the heavy claws on its hands were later thought to have made it related or an ancestor to the spinosaurid dinosaurs like Baryonyx and Suchomimus.‭ ‬However new dinosaur discoveries have cast doubt upon the trait of large fore claws being exclusive to the spinosaurids.‭ ‬Chilantaisaurus has also been associated with the coelurosaurian dinosaurs that would evolve into the larger theropods towards the end of the cretaceous such as Alioramus and Tyrannosaurus.




       A‭ ‬2009‭ ‬study of Chilantaisaurus remains resulted in the renaming of some of them into the Shaochilong genus which is part of the carcharodontosaurid group of dinosaurs.‭ ‬Some palaeontologists were not convinced about the splitting of new material into a new genus,‭ ‬but did suggest that if the Shaochilong material was of a carharodontosaurid,‭ ‬then Chilantaisaurus was probably a carcharodontosaurid too.‭ ‬However this similarity was explained by the team who named Shaochilong who also found that Chilantaisaurus was actually a member of the Neovenatoridae,‭ ‬a group that includes others such as Neovenator.‭ ‬Not only are Neovantaorid dinosaurs are related to the carcharodontosauird dinosaurs,‭ ‬but both of these groups are also thought to have a shared lineage back to the allosaurid dinosaurs of the Jurassic.‭ ‬This also partly confirms the original description by Hu which declared Chilantaisaurus an allosaurid.

Further reading
- [Carnosaurian remains from Alashan, Inner Mongolia]. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 8(1):42-63. - S. -Y. Hu - 1964.



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