친데 사우루스 의 골격 ( 위 ) 친데 사우루스 의 이미지 ( 위 , 아래 ) 위키피디아 Chindesaurus ( pronounced CHIN - dee - SAWR - us ) ( meaning " Lizard from Chinde Point ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur named after Chinde Point ( Chinde { Navajo , chindi } meaning " ghost or evil spirit "), near where the genoholotype specimen ( a partial skeleton ) was discovered in Petrified Forest National Park , Arizona , by Bryan Small in 1984 . Chindesaurus was a basal theropod which lived around 225 million years ago during the Late Triassic . It was between 6 and 12 feet ( 1 . 8 and 3 . 7 m ) long , and was formally described by Long and Murry in 1995 . The type species , Chindesaurus bryansmalli , is named in honor of the discoverer . DescriptionChindesaurus is known from five incomplete specimens ( six if Caseosaurus is included ) . Of these , the type specimen PEFO 10395 is the most complete , consisting of a single tooth , a fragmentary neck vertebra , fragmentary back vertebrae , several rib fragments , two complete vertebrae from the hips , fragmentary tail vertebrae , a chevron , several fragmentary hip bones , a fragmentary tibia , and an ankle bone . The other specimens are more incomplete , consisting of isolated hip bones , upper leg bones ( femora ) , and more vertebrae . The type and paratype specimens were approximately 2 . 4 metres ( 7 . 9 ft ) in length . C lassificationChindesaurus has been difficult to classify , and has been recovered in several different positions at the base of the saurischian family tree . When it was first discovered in 1985 , the fossil specimen which would eventually be named Chindesaurus was thought to be a prosauropod . When it was finally described and named a decade after its discovery by Long and Murry , they regarded it as a herrerasaurid , an opinion that has been followed by most paleontologists since . Phylogenetic analyses published through 2007 continued to find it to fall among the herrerasaurids , though a few studies cast doubt on this , including one in 2007 by Irmis , Nesbitt and colleagues which found Chindesaurus to be a probable basal saurischian dinosaur , and noted that it shares a wide range of characteristics with several lineages of basal saurischians , making any classification problematic . One specimen originally assigned to Chindesaurus , from the Tecovas Formation of Texas , was later placed in its own genus and species , Caseosaurus crosbyensis . Subsequent research has shown that this separation was probably in error , and that the two forms represent the same species . Nesbitt , Irmis and Parker agreed in a 2007 paper that there is little reason to separate Caseosaurus from Chindesaurus , and the two even share some unique characteristics not found in similar species . Nesbitt and colleagues suggested that any differences between the two were probably related to differences in size . However , since both species are so fragmentary , they decided not to formally make them synonyms . PaleoecologyProvenance and OccurrenceThe holotype specimen of Chindesaurus PEFO 10395 is a partial skeleton , discovered in the Petrified Forest National Park member of the Chinle Formation in Apache County , Arizona . Its remains were discovered by Bryan Small in 1985 , in blue mudstone which was deposited during the Norian stage of the Triassic , approximately 228 - 208 million years ago . Specimen PEFO 4849 , which consists only of a dorsal vertebra was referred to the genus . It was collected in Norian - aged sediments in a different part of the Upper Petrified Forest member . Specimen PEFO 33982 , which consists of nine vertebrae , an ilium fragment , a proximal femur , and other bone fragments was also collected in Norian - aged sediments of Upper Petrified Forest member . In the Bull Canyon Formation , in New Mexico , specimens NMMNH P 16656 , and NMMNH P 17325 were discovered in sediments deposited during the Norian and Lancian stages of the Late Triassic , respectively . The assignment of these two specimens to Chindesaurus has now come under question . Additional material referable to Chindesaurus was discovered in 2006 , in gray / green siltstone at the Hayden Quarry of the Petrified Forest Member of the Chinle Formation in New Mexico . Another specimen , TMM 31100 - 523 which consists of a proximal femur , was discovered in the Colorado City Formation in Texas , in mudstone considered to be from the Carnian stage of the Triassic , approximately 235 - 228 million years ago . Fauna and HabitatThe Upper Petrified Forest National Park member of the Chinle Formation was an ancient floodplain where phytosaurs , rauisuchids , archosaurs , pseudosuchians , and other tetrapods lived and competed with the dinosaur Chindesaurus and its relative Coelophysis for resources . This paleoenvironment also had abundant lungfish and clams .