Embasaurus

Embasaurus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, Berriasian
Vertebra
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Genus: †Embasaurus
Riabinin, 1931
Species:
†E. minax
Binomial name
†Embasaurus minax
Riabinin, 1931
Synonyms[1]

Embasaurus (meaning "Emba lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period. It is known from two vertebrae found in the Neocomian Sands of Kazakhstan.[2][3] As it is known only from fragmentary remains, Embasaurus is considered by some to be a possible nomen dubium. It was named after the Emba River, and it is believed to have lived during the Berriasian stage, around 140 million years ago. According to the Theropod Database, a personal website designed by Mickey Mortimer, further research may suggest that Embasaurus may be a basal tyrannosauroid.[4] George Olshevsky, however, considered Embasaurus to be a megalosaurid, closely related to Magnosaurus, Megalosaurus, and Torvosaurus.[1]

The type species, Embasaurus minax, was described by the Soviet paleontologist Anatoly Riabinin in 1931.[4][5]

  1. ^ a b Olshevsky, G. (1991). "A revision of the parainfraclass Archosauria Cope, 1869, excluding the advanced Crocodylia" (PDF). Mesozoic Meanderings 2. San Diego: 196.
  2. ^ "Table 4.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 78
  3. ^ Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.
  4. ^ a b "Tyrannosauroidea". theropoddatabase.com. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  5. ^ Riabinin, A.N. (1931). "Two dinosaurian vertebrae from the Lower Cretaceous of Transcaspian Steppes". Zapiski Russkogo Min. Obshchestva (ser. 2) 60: 110-113.