Chienkosaurus

Chiankou lizard

• Chiankou · Chinese (place name) · Chiankou (a locality in Sichuan, China)
• saurus · Greek · lizard

Chienkosaurus combines the place name "Chiankou" (Wade–Giles romanisation of a locality in Sichuan Province, China) with the Greek word "sauros," meaning lizard. The name therefore means "Chiankou lizard," honouring the region in China where the fossils were discovered. It was one of the early dinosaur names coined for Chinese material during the mid-twentieth century.

Named by

Young

Year named

1942

Period

Late Jurassic

Stages

Oxfordian – Kimmeridgian

Found in

Sichuan Province, China

Chienkosaurus cedarensis was named by C. C. Young in 1942 on the basis of fragmentary material (teeth) from the Shaximiao Formation of Sichuan, China. Because the material is so incomplete, it cannot be reliably diagnosed or confidently assigned to a more established genus, and it is widely regarded as a nomen dubium. It has tentatively been referred to as a theropod dinosaur, but its exact affinities remain unclear.