Pukyongosaurus

Pukyongosaurus (meaning "Pukyong lizard", after the Pukyong National University^[1]) is a genus of titanosauriform dinosaur that lived in South Korea during the Early Cretaceous Period (Aptian - Albian). It may have been closely related to Euhelopus, and is known from a series of vertebrae in the neck and back. The characteristics that were originally used to distinguish this genus have been criticized as being either widespread or too poorly preserved to evaluate, rendering the genus an indeterminate nomen dubium among titanosauriforms.^[2] The 2022 study noted that Pukyongosaurus is probably a somphospondylan.^[3]

Pukyongosaurus Temporal range: Aptian-Albian ~118.0–112.4 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Reconstructed skeleton of Pukyongosaurus in the Pukyong National University
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Clade:	†Macronaria
Clade:	†Somphospondyli
Genus:	†Pukyongosaurus Dong et al., 2001
Type species
Pukyongosaurus millenniumi Dong et al., 2001

Discovery

In 2000, several fragments of a sauropod skeleton were discovered in the Hasandong Formation in Hadong County, South Korea. One of the caudal vertebrae ascribed to Pukyongosaurus has bite marks from theropod teeth.^[4]