Technosaurus

Tek-noe-sore-us.
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Benjamin Gutierrez

Vertebrate Paleontologist

Benjamin Gutierrez is a leading expert on dinosaurs, particularly the mighty theropods. His fieldwork in South America has uncovered new species and provided insights into dinosaur social structures.

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Name

Technosaurus ‭(‬Tech lizard‭ ‬-‭ ‬after Texas Tech‭)‬.

Phonetic

Tek-noe-sore-us.

Named By

Sankar Chatterjee‭ ‬-‭ ‬1984.

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Archosauromorpha,‭ ‬Dinosauriformes‭?

Diet

Unknown.

Species

T.‭ ‬smalli‭

Size

Unknown due to lack of identifiable remains.

Known locations

USA,‭ ‬Texas‭ ‬-‭ ‬Bull Canyon Formation.

Time Period

Norian of the Triassic.

Fossil representation

Premaxilla and lower jaw fragment‭?

In Depth

       Technosaurus is in simple terms a mess.‭ ‬Described in‭ ‬1984‭ ‬by Sankar Chatterjee from an astralgus‭ (‬ankle bone‭)‬,‭ ‬a dorsal‭ (‬back‭) ‬vertebrae,‭ ‬two lower jaws and a premaxilla,‭ ‬Techonosaurus was heralded as the earliest ornithischian‭ (‬bird hipped‭) ‬dinosaur of the time.‭ ‬Then in‭ ‬1991another palaeontologist named Paul Sereno re-examined the fossils,‭ ‬a study that would be the beginning of the doubt in the validity of Technosaurus being the earliest known ornithischian dinosaur.‭

       First Sereno found that both the vertebrae and astralgus were unidentifiable,‭ ‬and thus could not be used to define the genus.‭ ‬Sereno was also of the opinion that the premaxilla and one of the jaws belonged to a‭ ‬hatchling prosauropod,‭ ‬a kind of saurischian‭ (‬lizard hipped‭) ‬dinosaur.‭ ‬A‭ ‬2007‭ ‬review by Irmis et al took things even further.‭ ‬It was agreed that the vertebra and astralgus should be removed from the genus,‭ ‬but‭ ‬the reviewers also found no characteristics in the skull and jaw material that could definitely identify them as being dinosaurian.‭ ‬Instead the new review considered the remains to be similar to another archosaur called Shuvosaurus,‭ ‬in fact one of the jaw fragments was considered to actually be from a Shuvosaurus.

       Currently Technosaurus only has a premaxilla and a jaw fragment assigned to the genus.‭ ‬Although sometimes tentatively assigned to the dinosauriformes,‭ ‬Technosaurus is now often just described as an indeterminate archosaur.‭ ‬Despite this,‭ ‬Technosaurus has been noted as sharing some similarities with another archosaur called Silesaurus.

Further Reading

-‭ ‬A new ornithischian dinosaur from the Triassic of North America,‭ ‬Sankar Chatterjee‭ ‬-‭ ‬1984. -‭ ‬Lesothosaurus,‭ “‬fabrosaurids‭”‬,‭ ‬and the early evolution of Ornithischia,‭ ‬Paul C.‭ ‬Sereno‭ ‬-‭ ‬1991. -‭ ‬A critical re-evaluation of the Late Triassic dinosaur taxa of North America,‭ ‬Sterling J.‭ ‬Nesbitt,‭ ‬Randall B.‭ ‬Irmis,‭ & ‬William G.‭ ‬Parker‭ ‬-‭ ‬2007. -‭ ‬Early ornithischian dinosaurs:‭ ‬the Triassic record,‭ ‬Sterling J.‭ ‬Nesbitt,‭ ‬Randall B.‭ ‬Irmis,‭ ‬William G.‭ ‬Parker‭ & ‬Jun Lin‭ ‬-‭ ‬2007.

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