In Depth
A little known theropod from the mid Jurassic of China, Shidaisaurus was so far only been described from partial remains. However, the Shidaisaurus remains were discovered along with the remains of several other individual dinosaurs, and the partial remains of an unknown theropod skull found nearby with the skeletal remains of a sauropod has been speculated to belong to Shidaisaurus. If correct then this would suggest the Shidaisaurus holotype is probably that of a juvenile or subadult since these skull bones are not fused like they would be in an adult. Due to its earlier appearance in the Jurassic it has come as no surprise that Shidaisaurus was more primitive in form than later Asian theropods of the Jurassic like Sinraptor.
Another Chinese dinosaur to be named after a company is Gasosaurus.
Further Reading
– A new theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Lufeng, Yunnan, China. – Acta Geologica Sinica 83 (1): 9–24. – X.-C. Wu, P. J. Currie, Z. Dong, S. Pan & T. Wang – 2009.
