unamed specimen NGMC-91. From Ji, Norell et al., 2001.
Qiang, Ji, Norell, Mark A., Gao, Ke-Qin, Ji, Shu-An, Ren, Dong. 2001. The distribution of integumentary structures in a feathered dinosaur. Nature. 410:1084-1087 doi:10.1038/35074079
Showing posts with label Superfamily: Dromaeosauroidea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Superfamily: Dromaeosauroidea. Show all posts
Sunday, September 9, 2012
[Paleontology • 2001] 'Sinornithosaurus' Dave NGMC-91 • The distribution of integumentary structures in a feathered dinosaur
[Paleontology • 1999] Sinornithosaurus millenii • A dromaeosaurid dinosaur with a filamentous integument from the Yixian Formation of China
FIGURE 1. Sinornithosaurus millenii, Holotype, IVPP V12811.
The posterior part of the skull is disarticulated from the snout and lower jaws and turned 180° in the opposite direction. The postcranial skeleton is also not articulated, but the bones retain a close association. Integumentary filaments have been displaced, lacking their direct relationships to bony elements.
Drawing of the specimen shown in Fig. 1
Dromaeosaurids, despite their notoriety, are poorly characterized meat-eating dinosaurs, and were previously known only from disarticulated or fragmentary specimens1. Many studies have denied their close relationship to birds. Here we report the best represented and probably the earliest dromaeosaurid yet discovered, Sinornithosaurus millenii gen. et sp. nov., from Sihetun, the famous Mesozoic fish–dinosaur–bird locality in China. Sinornithosaurus not only greatly increases our knowledge of Dromaeosauridae but also provides evidence for a filamentous integument in this group. It is remarkably similar to early birds postcranially. The shoulder girdle shows that terrestrial dromaeosaurids had attained the prerequisites for powered, flapping flight6, supporting the idea that bird flight originated from the ground up. The discovery of Sinornithosaurus widens the distribution of integumentary filaments among non-avian theropods. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that, among known theropods with integumentary filaments or feathers, Dromaeosauridae is the most bird-like, and is more closely related to birds than is Troodontidae.
Xu, Xing, Wang, Xiao-Lin, Wu, Xiao-Chun. 1999. A dromaeosaurid dinosaur with a filamentous integument from the Yixian Formation of China. Nature. 401:262-266.
doi:10.1038/45769
[Paleontology • 2011] Pamparaptor micros • A new small deinonychosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina
Pamparaptor micros
Porfiri, Calvo & Santos, 2011
Here we report on a new small deinonychosaurian theropod, Pamparaptor micros gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. Pamparaptor micros exhibits a pedal structure previously unknown among South American deinonychosaurians. The new material provides new evidence about the morphology and taxonomic diversity of Patagonian deinonychosaurs. Pamparaptor is the smaller non-avialae Patagonian deinonychosaur, probably with about 0.50-0.70 meters, long. The pedal construction resembles, that of Troodontid or basal Dromaeosaurids. Nevertheless, up to now, we considered Pamparaptor a peculiar Patagonian Dromaeosaurid with troodontid-like pes.
Key words: Argentina, Barreales Lake, Dromaeosauridae, Late Cretaceous, Patagonia, Unenlagiinae.
Etymology: Pampa, in honor to the Indian Pampas that lived in the central plain of Argentina;
and raptor, robber in Greek; micros, for the small size of specimen.
During the last decade, the fossil record of deinonychosaurian theropods from Patagonia has notably increased. Up to now, the records of Deinonychosauria from Patagonia include Unenlagia comahuensis (Novas and Puerta 1997), Unenlagia paynemili (Calvo et al. 2004), Neuquenraptor argentinus (Novas and Pol 2005), Buitreraptor gonzalezorum (Makovicky et al. 2005) and Austroraptor cabazai (Novas et al. 2008).
Here we report on a new deinonychosaurian, Pamparaptor micros gen. nov sp. nov, collected from the Baal quarry, at the north coast of Barreales Lake, Neuquén, Argentina (Fig. 1). The specimen comes from the Portezuelo Formation, (Turonian-Coniacian), Neuquén Group, and it is represented by pedal elements. The new form is gracile and small, with about 0.50-0.70 meters, and its metatarsal construction is highly derived, resembling troodontids (Xu and Wang 2000). We offer here a brief description of this notable discovery.
Porfiri, Juan D.; Jorge O. Calvo and Domenica dos Santos. 2011. A new small deinonychosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências. 83 (1): 109–116. doi:10.1590/S0001-37652011000100007.
[Paleontology • 2007] มหากาฬ | Mahakala omnogovae • A basal dromaeosaurid from the Upper Cretaceous of Ömnögov, Mongolia; and Size Evolution preceding Avian Flight
Fossil evidence for changes in dinosaurs near the lineage leading to birds and the origin of flight has been sparse. A dinosaur from Mongolia represents the basal divergence within Dromaeosauridae. The taxon's small body size and phylogenetic position imply that extreme miniaturization was ancestral for Paraves (the clade including Avialae, Troodontidae, and Dromaeosauridae), phylogenetically earlier than where flight evolution is strongly inferred. In contrast to the sustained small body sizes among avialans throughout the Cretaceous Period, the two dinosaurian lineages most closely related to birds, dromaeosaurids and troodontids, underwent four independent events of gigantism, and in some lineages size increased by nearly three orders of magnitude. Thus, change in theropod body size leading to flight's origin was not unidirectional.
Artist's conception of Mahakala omnogovae
Remains of a petite dinosaur reveal that some of the ancestors of birds had already shrunk in size before flight evolved.
Turner, Alan H.; Pol, Diego; Clarke, Julia A.; Erickson, Gregory M.; and Norell, Mark. 2007. A basal dromaeosaurid and size evolution preceding avian flight. Science. 317 (5843): 1378–1381. doi:10.1126/science.1144066
Dinosaurs: Beyond Cute: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2007/09/06/dinosaurs-beyond-cute/
Dionsaurs Shrank First, Flew Later: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1057699/dionsaurs_shrank_first_flew_later/
[Paleontology • 2007] Luanchuanraptor henanensis • A New dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Luanchuan area, western Henan, China
Luanchuanraptor henanensis
Lü, Xu, Zhang, Ji, Jia, Hu, Zhang and Wu, 2007
Luanchuanraptor (meaning "Luanchuan thief")
A medium-sized dromaeosaurid, it is the first Asian dromaeosaurid described from outside the Gobi Desert or northeastern China. It is based on a partial skeleton from the Qiupa Formation (Late Cretaceous) in Luanchuan, Henan, China.
Lü, J.-C.; Xu, L.; Zhang, X.-L.; Ji, Q.; Jia, S.-H.; Hu, W.-Y.; Zhang, J.-M.; and Wu, Y.-H. 2007. New dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Luanchuan area, western Henan, China. Geological Bulletin of China. 26 (7): 777–786.
[Paleontology • 2003] Dromaeosauroides bornholmensis • New dinosaurs from Denmark (Dinosauria, Theropoda)
Abstract
Only the Baltic island of Bornholm is likely ever to produce Danish dinosaurs, not the western mainland Denmark. The Mesozoic of Bornholm spans Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous, with some potentially dinosaur producing deposits from Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous being continental, lagoon, littoral or marginal marine. So far the only dinosaurs have been found in 2000 and 2002 in the basal Jydegaard Fm., carrying a 'Purbeck-Wealden fauna' of the Earliest Cretaceous (Late Berriasian or Ryazanian) at Robbedale. Both are single tooth crowns; the first find, a 21 -mm crown, is a dromaeosaurine, Dromaeosauroides bornholmensis Christiansen & Bonde 2003, possibly the only true dromaeosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe. Estimated length of the animal is over 3 m. The second find is a somewhat unusual sauropod, most likely titanosaurian, the crown being only ca 15 mm high, with an unusual wear facet. Both teeth were derived from the lowermost 2-3 metres of the formation. Future expectations from this deposit are small ornithopods - and possibly mammals.
Keywords: Cretaceous; Baltic Sea; Europe; Scandinavia; morphology; teeth; Berriasian; Lower Cretaceous; paleoenvironment; Bornholm; Denmark
Cast of the holotype tooth (MGUH DK No. 315) of Dromaeosauroides bornholmensis at the Geological Museum in Copenhagen
Christiansen P. and Bonde N. 2003. New dinosaurs from Denmark = Nouveaux dinosaures du Danemark. Neues Jahrbuch der Geologie und Palaeontologie Abhandlungen. 227(2): 287-299.
[Paleontology • 2000] Pyroraptor olympius • A new genus of Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of France
Pyroraptor olympius
Allain & Taquet, 2000
Diagram showing the fossil pieces known from the Dromaeosaurid dinosaur Pyroraptor olympius.
Note: bones which are known, but not shown in the original paper, are coloured grey.
Le Loeuff, J. and Buffetaut, E. 1999. A new dromaeosaurid theropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern France. Oryctos. 1, 105-112.
Allain, R. and Taquet, P., 2000, A new genus of Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of France. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 20(2), 404-407.
Fig. 1. A, Plateosaurus engelhardti, Upper Triassic, Norian, Jura; B, Poekilopleuron bucklandii, Middle Jurassic, Bathonian, Calvados; C, Lexovisaurus durobrivensis, Middle Jurassic, Callovian, Calvados; D, Compsognathus longipes, Late Jurassic, Tithonian, Var; E, Genusaurus sisteronis, Early Cretaceous, Albian, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence; F, Rhabdodon priscus, Late Cretaceous, Campano-Maastrichtian, southern France; G, Pyroraptor olympius, Late Cretaceous, Campanian, Bouches-du-Rhône. Restorations by Michel Fontaine. © Éditions du MNHN
Dinosaurs of France | Dinosaures de France
[Paleontology • 1998] Variraptor mechinorum • A new dromaeosaurid theropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern France
Variraptor mechinorum The generic name is derived from Latin Varus, referring to the Var River in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence region of southern France, and raptor meaning "thief". The specific name honours the Méchin couple.
Variraptor and Rhabdodon
art: ~dustdevil
Le Loeuff, J. and Buffetaut, E. 1999. A new dromaeosaurid theropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern France. Oryctos. 1, 105-112.
Allain, R. and Taquet, P., 2000, A new genus of Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of France. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 20(2), 404-407.
[Paleontology] Ornithodesmus cluniculus Seeley, 1887 | 'bird link' • theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight, England
Ornithodesmus cluniculus Seeley, 1887
photo: http://dinosaurs.wikia.com
Ornithodesmus cluniculus was first described by Harry Govier Seeley in 1887, based on a set of six fused vertebrae from the hip (sacrum), specimen number BMNH R187, found by William D. Fox in the Wessex Formation of Brook Bay. Seeley thought the bones came from a primitive bird, and gave it a name meaning "bird link", from Greek ὄρνις (ornis), "bird", en δεσμός (desmos), "link". The specific name cluniculus means "little buttock" in Latin, a reference to the small thighs indicated by the size of the specimen.
Illustration of Ornithodesmus sacrum in multiple views
Seeley, H. 1887. On a sacrum, apparently indicating a new type of Bird, Ornithodesmus cluniculus, Seeley, from the Wealden of Brook. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 42: 206-211.
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