Beipiaognathus
Beipiaognathus (meaning Beipiao jaw) is a dubious genus of coelurosaurian theropod from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning, China.[1]
Beipiaognathus | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Family: | †Compsognathidae |
Genus: | †Beipiaognathus Hu et al., 2016 |
Species: | †B. jii |
Binomial name | |
†Beipiaognathus jii Hu et al., 2016 | |
The genus was initially assigned to the Compsognathidae based on the presence of two traits: fan-shaped dorsal neural spines and a robust I-1 phalanx on the hand.[1] However, it also differs from other compsognathids in several ways: the teeth are unserrated and conical; the ulna is proportionally longer; the II-1 phalanx on the hand is longer and more robust; and the tail is much shorter.[1]
However, Andrea Cau has informally noted a number of points in the fossil that are indicative of it having been artificially assembled, thus rendering the specimen a phylogenetically uninformative chimaera.[2]
References
- Hu, Y; Wang, X; Huang, J (2016). "A new species of compsognathid from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Western Liaoning, China". Journal of Geology. 40: 191–196.
- Cau, A (2016). Lo status (pale)ontologico di Beipiaognathus (in Italian) Theropoda.