Crichtonsaurus
Name:
Crichtonsaurus
(Crichton’s lizard).
Phonetic: Cry-ton-sore-us.
Named By: Z.-M. Dong - 2002.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Thyreophora, Ankylosauridae, Ankylosaurinae.
Species: C. bohlini
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Roughly about 3 to 3.5 meters long.
Known locations: China, Liaoning Province -
Sunjiawan Foramtion.
Time period: Cenomanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Holotype based upon a jaw and
teeth, remains of further remains including a skull and several
postcranial elements have now been added to the genus.
Crichtonsaurus
seems to have been a fairly small genus of ankylosaur that lived in
China during the earlier stages of the Late Cretaceous period. As an
ankylosaur
Crichtonsaurus would have been a squat
quadrupedal dinosaur
that browsed upon low growing plants.
At
the time of writing two species of Crichtonsaurus
have been identified
by Chinese palaeontologists, though some research has already cast
some doubts upon the apparent validity of these species. In a Ph. D
thesis written by Victoria Megan Arbour, it was noted that there was
no clear link between the holotype specimen of Crichtonsaurus
and the
later referred fossils, and that on this basis the type species C.
bohlini was dubious. Arbour also stated that at least one
partial
skeleton attributed to C. bohlini should be moved
to the second
species C. benxiensis. However it was noted
that there are clear
differences in the scapulas (shoulder blades) of the known fossil
specimens, and that itself does support the presence of at least two
ankylosaurs species/genera in the Sunjiawan Formation. A later study
(Arbour & Currie) saw C. benxiensis removed
from the genus and
used to establish its own genus which subsequently became known as
Crichtonpelta.
Crichtonsaurus
was named after the famous writer Michael Crichton. Among other
things, Michael Crichton wrote many great bestselling books, two
of which will be known to many dinosaur fans being Jurassic
Park in
1990, and The Lost World in 1995, both of
which were remade
into, major blockbuster movies in 1993 and 1997
respectively, which would also in turn spawn their own sequels.
Further reading
- A new armored dinosaur (Ankylosauria) from Beipiao Basin,
Liaoning Province, northeastern China. - Vertebrata PalAsiatica
40(4):276-285. - Z.-M. Dong - 2002.
- A new species of the ankylosaurid dinosaur Crichtonsaurus
(Ankylosauridae: Ankylosauria) from the Cretaceous of Liaoning
Province, China. Acta Geologica Sinica 81(6):883-897. -
J. L�, Q. Ji, Y. Gao & Z. Li - 2007.
- Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid
dinosaurs. - Ph.D thesis, University of Alberta. - Victoria
Megan Arbour - 2014
- Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid
dinosaurs. - Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 14 (5): 1. - Victoria
M. Arbour & Philip J. Currie - 2015.
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