Szechuanosaurus
genus of reptiles (fossil)
Szechuanosaurus ("Szechuan lizard") is an extinct genus of carnivorous theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic. Fossils referred to the genus have been found in China, Asia in the Oxfordian-?Tithonian (Peng et al., 2005). Its type species is based on several undiagnostic teeth from the Kuangyuan Series. Additional possible specimens of Szechuanosaurus were also reported from the Kalaza Formation, also located in China.
Szechuanosaurus is at times regarded as a nomen dubium due to the lack of diagnostic features in the fossilized teeth upon which the genus is based. Although the fossils are too fragmentary for confident identification, Szechuanosaurus is often interpreted as a medium-sized allosaurid or perhaps a metriacanthosaurid, capable of reaching lengths of around 7.3 meters.
Discovery and species
Three species have been assigned to this genus over the years. The type species is Szechuanosaurus campi, named by Yang Zhongjian ("Chung Chien Young") in 1942 for four isolated tooth specimens: IVPP V235, two partial teeth; IVPP V236, a partial tooth; IVPP V238, several tooth fragments; and IVPP V239, a single tooth. The teeth form a syntype series and were not found together. Also a very fragmentary skeleton, specimen UCMP 32102, was referred to the genus by Yang.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Szechuanosaurus” as genus of reptiles (fossil). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as genus of reptiles (fossil). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 13, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q637535. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2005 and 1942.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Szechuanosaurus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.