Aniksosaurus

Taxobox|
name = "Aniksosaurus"


image_width = 250px
image_caption =
status = fossil
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Saurischia
subordo = Theropoda
unranked_familia = Coelurosauria
genus = "Aniksosaurus"
binomial = "Aniksosaurus darwini"
binomial_authority = Martinez & Novas, 2006

"Aniksosaurus" was a genus of dinosaur from what is now present-day Chubut Province, Argentina. It was a theropod, specifically a coelurosaur, which lived in the middle Cretaceous period (Cenomanian to Turonian stages, around 95 million years ago). The type species, "Aniksosaurus darwini", was formally described by Martínez and Novas in 2006; the name was first coined in 1995. The specific epithet honors Charles Darwin. The type remains were found in the lower Bajo Barreal Formation of Patagonia. "Aniksosaurus" was around two meters in length. The paleontologists describe "Aniksosaurus" as "more derived than some basal coelurosaurians such as compsognathids, "Ornitholestes", and coelurids", but less advanced than later coelurosaurs such as "Tyrannosaurus" and "Oviraptor".

References

*Martínez, R.D., and Novas, F.E. (2006). "Aniksosaurus darwini" gen. et sp. nov., a new coelurosaurian theropod from the early Late Cretaceous of central Patagonia, Argentina." "Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales", n.s. 8(2): 243-259.

External links

* [http://dml.cmnh.org/2001Jan/msg00511.html Mickey Mortimer] and [http://dml.cmnh.org/2001Jan/msg00521.html Josh B. Smith] on the genus.