PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis

Reptilia - Metriacanthosauridae

Taxonomy

Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis was named by Dong et al. (1978). Its type specimen is CV 00215, a skeleton, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Shangyou Reservoir, which is in a Bathonian/Callovian terrestrial mudstone in the Shaximiao Formation of China.

It was recombined as Metriacanthosaurus shangyouensis by Paul (1988).

Synonyms

Yangchuanosaurus magnus was named by Dong et al. (1983). Its type specimen is CV 00216, a partial skeleton, and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Hongjiang Machine Factory, Yongchuan, which is in a Bathonian/Callovian terrestrial horizon in the Shaximiao Formation of China.

It was synonymized subjectively with Metriacanthosaurus shangyouensis by Paul (1988); it was synonymized subjectively with Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis by Carrano et al. (2012).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1978	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Dong et al. pp. 302-304 figs. 1-2
1981	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Molnar et al. p. 145
1981	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Olshevsky p. 36
1983	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Dong et al. p. 68
1983	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Dong et al. p. 83 figs. 54-63; pls. 27-31
1985	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Zhao p. 288
1988	Metriacanthosaurus shangyouensis Paul p. 290
1990	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Molnar et al. p. 192
1990	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Molnar et al. p. 192
1991	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Molnar p. 165
1992	Yangchuanosaurus shangyuensis Bakker et al. p. 9 fig. 3E
1992	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Bakker et al. p. 22
1992	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Dong p. 85
1992	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Dong p. 85
1992	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Gao p. 323
1992	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Gao p. 323
1994	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Currie and Zhao p. 2038
1994	Yangchuanosaurus shangyuensis Currie and Zhao p. 2038
1997	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Dong p. 122
1997	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Dong p. 122
1999	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Gao
1999	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Gao
2003	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Rauhut p. 27
2003	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Rauhut p. 27
2004	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Holtz, Jr. et al. p. 74
2004	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Holtz, Jr. et al. p. 74
2007	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Sampson and Witmer p. 38
2008	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Watabe et al. p. 33
2008	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Watabe et al. p. 35
2009	Yangchuanosaurus shangyuensis Wu et al. p. 13
2009	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Wu et al. p. 14
2009	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Xing et al. p. 1394
2009	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Xing et al. p. 1394
2011	Yangchuanosaurus magnus Li et al. p. 24
2011	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Li et al. p. 24
2012	Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Carrano et al. p. 246

Is something missing? Join the Paleobiology Database and enter the data

Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
subclass	Eureptilia	()

Rank	Name	Author
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
—	Archosauromorpha	(Huene 1946)
—	Crocopoda
—	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
—	Eucrocopoda
—	Archosauria	()
informal	Avemetatarsalia
—	Ornithodira
—	Dinosauromorpha
—	Dinosauriformes
—	Dinosauria	()
—	Theropoda	()
—	Neotheropoda
—	Averostra	Paul 2002
—	Tetanurae
superfamily	Allosauroidea
family	Metriacanthosauridae
genus	Yangchuanosaurus
species	shangyouensis

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

†Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Dong et al. 1978

show all | hide all

Invalid names: Yangchuanosaurus magnus Dong et al. 1983 [synonym]

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
Z. Dong et al. 1983 (Yangchuanosaurus magnus)	An extremely large megalosaur with a massive skull that displays two maxillary depressions, one of which penetrates the maxilla. Four of the five sacral spines are fused with the anterior sacral centrum more robust than the other centra.
Z. Dong et al. 1983	Body length is approximately seven meters, cranial height and length are of 1:1.6, maxilla is deeply concave and not perforated, five sacral centra are fused but lack any additional buttressing, ilium is low with a preacetabular process that is broad, flatly expanded anteriorly, and lacks ventral curvature. Ventral keels on the cervical vertebrae are absent.
M. T. Carrano et al. 2012	The original diagnoses of Yangchuanosaurus and its two constituent species (Dong et al. 1978, 1983) include features that now characterize ‘sinraptorids’, allosauroids and tetanurans more generally. More recent work (Currie & Zhao 1994) has distinguished Yangchuanosaurus from Sinraptor primarily on the presence of sinraptorid characters together with the absence of Sinraptor autapomorphies (i.e. a unique character combination but no autapomorphies). Yangchuanosaurus has a slightly higher ratio of skull height to length (0.5) than Sinraptor (0.4) and correspondingly has a proportionally taller maxilla. The dorsal vertebral neural spines are also lower (about 1.8 times centrum height compared to 2.0 in S. dongi) and the centra are relatively longer. Yangchuanosaurus may also exhibit a more pronounced margin of the antorbital fossa on the jugal, although this is difficult to ascertain in some sinraptorid specimens. We concur that Yangchuanosaurus can be distinguished from other sinraptorids, but in the absence of a detailed restudy of the type materials we can offer no new autapomorphies to define this genus.