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Siamosaurus

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Siamosaurus
Temporal range: Barremian, 130 Ma
Life restoration (right) with the sauropod dinosaurs Phuwiangosaurus in the background and the crocodyliform Sunosuchus in the middle left.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Family: Spinosauridae
Subfamily: Spinosaurinae
Genus: Siamosaurus
Buffetaut & Ingavat, 1986
Species
  • S. suteethorni Buffetaut & Ingavat, 1986 (type)

Siamosaurus (meaning 'Siamese lizard') is a carnivorous theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Thailand. It is only known from fossil teeth, so paleontologists don't know much about its size, but it might have reached a length of 9.1 meters (30 ft). The teeth that were discovered looked a lot like those of Spinosaurus, so it probably ate fish.[1]

A study made in 2010 by Roman Amiot and his colleagues compared the teeth of spinosaurids like Baryonyx, Irritator, Siamosaurus, and Spinosaurus to other meat-eating dinosaurs. They found that spinosaurids had very semiaquatic (living partly in water, and partly on land) lifestyles. This means they lived in habitats like those of hippopotamuses, crocodiles, and turtles. It also means they could exist at the same time and place as other large predators without competing for food.[2]

References

[change | change source]
  1. Buffetaut, E.; and Ingevat, R. (1986). Unusual theropod dinosaur teeth from the Upper Jurassic of Phu Wiang, northeastern Thailand. Rev. Paleobiol. 5: 217-220.
  2. Amiot, R.; Buffetaut, E.; Lécuyer, C.; Wang, X.; Boudad, L.; Ding, Z.; Fourel, F.; Hutt, S.; Martineau, F.; Medeiros, A.; Mo, J.; Simon, L.; Suteethorn, V.; Sweetman, S.; Tong, H.; Zhang, F.; Zhou, Z. (2010). "Oxygen isotope evidence for semi-aquatic habits among spinosaurid theropods". Geology. 38 (2): 139–142. Bibcode:2010Geo....38..139A. doi:10.1130/G30402.1.