Chindesaurus bryansmalli
By Ashley Patch on @apatchsketches
Name: Chindesaurus bryansmalli
Name Meaning: Bryan Small's Ghost Lizard
First Described: 1995
Described By: Long et Murry
Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Herrerasauridae (under debate)
Chindesaurus bryansmalli is a basal saurischian known from five incomplete specimens, potentially six. It is from the late Triassic period, from the late Carnian stage to the early Norian, about 225 million years ago. It was found in the Petrified Forest formation in Arizona, the Chinle Formation and the Bull Canyon Formation in New Mexico, and the Tecovas Formation in Texas. It's cladistic position is up for debate, with it being a possible Herrerasaurid or simply a basal theropod. It lived in an area that was once an ancient floodplain, with many archosaurian neighbors and competing with Coelophysis for resources, and it was a bipedal predator. The genus Caseosaurus is disputed to actually be a species of Chindesaurus, or the same dinosaur as Chindesaurus bryansmalli.
Sources:
Weishampel, D. B. (2007). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caseosaurus
http://planetdi.startlogic.com/dinosaurs_by_category/triassic_dinosaurs/chindesaurus_bryansmalli.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chindesaurus
