Chaoyangsaurus

Chaoyangsaurus ("Chaoyang lizard") was a marginocephalian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of China (dated to between 150.8 and 145.5 million years ago).[1] Chaoyangsaurus belonged to the Ceratopsia (Greek for "horned faces"), Chaoyangsaurus, like all ceratopsians, was primarily a herbivore.[2][3]

Chaoyangsaurus
Temporal range: Late Jurassic,
148 Ma
↓
Skeletal restoration showing known material
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: †Ornithischia
Family: †Chaoyangsauridae
Genus: †Chaoyangsaurus
Zhao, Cheng, & Xu, 1999
Species:
†C. youngi
Binomial name
†Chaoyangsaurus youngi
Zhao, Cheng, & Xu, 1999

Discovery
Life restoration

Chaoyangsaurus was found in the Chaoyang area of Liaoning Province in northeastern China. The specific name honours the Chinese paleontologist C. C. Young.[4]

Spelling

Unlike many other dinosaurs, Chaoyangsaurus had been discussed in a number of sources before its official publication. As a result of this, several different spellings of its name have come and gone as nomina nuda ("naked names", names with no formal description behind them). The first name to see print was Chaoyangsaurus, which appeared in the guidebook to a Japanese museum exhibit, and was the result of an incorrect transliteration. Zhao (1983) also used this spelling when he first discussed the species, so it is technically a nomen nudum. Two years later, Zhao again used this early spelling when he assigned a type specimen and species name, Chaoyangsaurus lipsiensis (Zhao, 1985).

According to Dong (1992), the name Chaoyangsaurus had been officially described in a paper by Zhao and Cheng in 1983, but no cite for this supposed paper exists, and it is likely it was not properly published. Dong, in his 1992 paper on the subject, also emended the name to the "correct" spelling of Chaoyangsaurus (note the extra letter "o"). However, since this renaming was not accompanied by a formal description of the dinosaur, Chaoyangsaurus must also be considered a nomen nudum.

It was not until 1999 that the dinosaur finally received an official name. Sereno (1999) used the name Chaoyangsaurus in an overview of ceratopsian taxonomy. Once again, that name was a nomen nudum. However, in December of that year, Cheng, Zhao, and Xu published an official description using the name Chaoyangsaurus youngi, and as the first name for this genus that is not a nomen nudum, it has official priority over all other spellings that have been used.

See also

References
  1. Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2011) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2010 Appendix.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402143344/http://dinosaurier-info.de/animals/dinosaurs/pages_c/chaoyangsaurus.php Chaoyangsaurus at Dinosaurier-info.de (in German)
  3. http://fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=55580 Chaoyangsaurus at Fossilworks.org
  4. Zhao, X., Cheng, Z., & Xu, X. (1999). "The earliest ceratopsian from the Tuchengzi Formation of Liaoning, China." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 19(4): 681-691 [December 13, 1999].
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