Theropod teeth from the Middle-Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of northwest Xinjiang, China

ABSTRACT

Sixteen isolated theropod teeth were discovered in two areas in the upper Middle–lower Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwest China. This sample can be divided on the basis of qualitative features and simple quantitative metrics into seven tooth morphotypes, each of which probably represents a distinct taxon. Three of the morphotypes may be attributable to theropods already known from the Shishugou Formation, namely the alvarezsauroid Haplocheirus and the basal tetanurans Monolophosaurus and Sinraptor. The other four morphotypes, however, appear to represent new taxa, taking the known theropod diversity of the Shishugou Formation from six species to at least ten. One of the new taxa is probably a dromaeosaurid. Another appears to represent a troodontid or a relative of the potentially troodontid-like Paronychodon, itself so far known only from isolated teeth. Of the remaining two taxa, one appears to be a basal tetanuran or tyrannosauroid, whereas the other either belongs to one of these same groups or represents a ceratosaur. The probable deinonychosaurian teeth in our sample are among the oldest fossils known for this clade, and highlight the diversity of coelurosaurs in the Shishugou Formation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank the members of the Sino-American expedition team for collecting the fossils, and D. A. Eberth for providing stratigraphic data and a geological map of Wucaiwan. Various theropod teeth were provided by X. L. Wang and the Paleozoological Museum of China for measurement and comparison to our sample. We thank Q. Zhao for much useful discussion. Two anonymous reviewers provided feedback that greatly improved the paper. Collection of fossils and subsequent research were funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China, the U.S. National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences (EAR 0310217), George Washington University, the Jurassic Foundation, National Geographic Society, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Handling editor: Hans-Dieter Sues