{{Short description|Extinct genus of dinosaurs}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = Early Jurassic, {{fossil range|Hettangian|Sinemurian}} | image = Bienosaurus dentary.jpg | image_caption = Holotype right dentary | display_parents = 4 | taxon = Bienosaurus lufengensis | parent_authority = Dong, 2001<ref name="dong2001"/> | authority = Dong, 2001 }}
'''''Bienosaurus''''' (meaning "Boien's lizard) is a dubious genus of thyreophoran dinosaur from the Early Jurassic (probably Hettangian to Sinemurian) Lower Lufeng Formation of Yunnan Province in China.
== Discovery and species == thumb|left|upright|Skull bones of the holotype The Lufeng Basin in China has been a location for the collection of Early Jurassic dinosaurs since 1938. In 1938 and 1939 Chinese paleontologist Mei Nien Bien collected material from the Dark Red Beds of the lower Lufeng Formation that included the nearly complete jaw and partial skull of a relative of the armored dinosaur ''Scelidosaurus'', though it was not described as such until 2001. In 2001, Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming described this specimen, IVPP V 9612, as a new member of the family Scelidosauridae, ''Bienosaurus lufengensis''. The genus name is in honor of the collector Bien and combines with it the Ancient Greek word σαυρος (''sauros'') for "lizard", while the specific name is for the Lufeng Basin where the holotype skull was found.<ref name="dong2001"/> The species name was originally going to honor Michael Crichton, author of ''Jurassic Park'', as "Bienosaurus crichtoni".<ref name="web"/> As it comes from the lower Lufeng Formation, ''Bienosaurus'' would be one of the earliest known ornithischians, living in the Hettangian to Sinemurian of the Early Jurassic.<ref name="raven2019"/>
''Bienosaurus'' was revisited by British paleontologists Thomas Raven, Paul Barrett, Susannah Maidment and Chinese paleontologist Xu Xing in 2019. They noted that the holotype number given by Dong, IVPP V 9612, was already in use for the holotype of ''Sinornithoides'', and that ''Bienosaurus'' had been reassigned the specimen number IVPP V15311 instead. As well, due to the incomplete and fragmentary nature of the material, it could not be distinguished from other thyreophorans and was thus dubious, with the possibility that it could represent the same taxon as ''Tatisaurus'' from the same formation. It does show anatomy typical of an early thyreophoran like ''Scelidosaurus'', but no unique features to support Scelidosauridae.<ref name="raven2019"/>
== Phylogeny == Dong in 2001 placed ''Bienosaurus'' in the Scelidosauridae, considering these to be part of the Ankylosauria. Later publications suggested a general position basal in the Thyreophora. In 2019 a study confirmed this, concluding ''Bienosaurus'' was a ''nomen dubium'', possibly identical to ''Tatisaurus'' from the same formation.<ref name="raven2019"/>
== References == {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="dong2001">{{cite book|last=Dong|first=Z.|author-link=Dong Zhiming|year=2001|chapter=Primitive Armored Dinosaur from the Lufeng Basin, China|editor-last=Tanke|editor-first=D.H.|editor2-last=Carpenter|editor2-first=K.|title=Mesozoic Vertebrate Life|publisher=Indiana University Press|pages=237–243|isbn=0-253-33907-3}}</ref> <ref name="raven2019">{{cite journal|last1=Raven|first1=T.J.|last2=Barrett|first2=P.M.|last3=Xu|first3=X.|author-link3=Xu Xing (paleontologist)|last4=Maidment|first4=S.C.R.|year=2019|title=A reassessment of the purported ankylosaurian dinosaur ''Bienosaurus lufengensis'' from the Lower Lufeng Formation of Yunnan, China|journal=Acta Palaeontologica Polonica|volume=64|issue=2|pages=335–342|doi=10.4202/app.00577.2018|hdl=10141/622543|hdl-access=free}}</ref> <ref name="web">{{cite web |title=Interview with Michael Crichton |url=https://www.writerswrite.com/features/michael-crichton-110120023 |website=Readers Read |access-date=22 February 2025 |date=2002}}</ref> }}
{{Ornithischia|H.}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q142105}}
Category:Thyreophora Category:Dinosaur genera Category:Sinemurian dinosaurs Category:Lufeng Formation Category:Fossil taxa described in 2001 Category:Taxa named by Dong Zhiming Category:Dinosaurs of China