Asiamericana

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Asiamericana
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 90  Ma
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Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Coelurosauria
Genus: Asiamericana
Nesov, 1995
Species:
A. asiatica
Binomial name
Asiamericana asiatica
Nesov, 1995
Synonyms

Asiamericana is a dubious genus of coelurosaur known only from isolated teeth found in the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekhistan. It was named to recognize the occurrence of similar fossil teeth in Central Asia and North America. These regions once formed a connected land mass, during the Cretaceous period.

Discovery and naming

The holotype teeth were discovered during the Uzbek-Russian-British-American-Canadian (URBAC) expedition by Lev Alexandrovich Nessov between 1974 and 1985 and were first described by Nesov (1985). [1] The type species is A. asiatica, which was named and described by Nesov (1995). [2]

The holotype of A. asiatica is CCMGE 460/12457, [2] and two other teeth (ZIN PH 1110/ 16 and ZIN PH 1129/16) are also known. [3] All three teeth are known from the CBI-14 site of the Bissekty Formation of Kazakhstan. [1] [3]

Description

The teeth themselves are straight, lack a constriction at the base, and lack serrations. [2]

Classification

In his initial description of the unusual teeth, Nesov speculated that they may belong to either saurodont fish or to spinosaurid dinosaurs. [2] He later changed his opinion, deciding that they definitely represented theropod remains, [4] and this opinion was followed by most later researchers who excluded them from reviews of spinosaurid teeth for this reason. [5]

However, in 2013 a study assumed that the teeth were identical to those of the possibly dromaeosaurid Richardoestesia isosceles, and renamed the species into Richardoestesia asiatica. [6] A subsequent study confirmed this in 2019. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Richardoestesia</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Richardoestesia is a morphogenus of theropod dinosaur teeth, originally described from the Late Cretaceous of what is now Canada, the United States and Kazakhstan. It currently contains two species, R. gilmorei and R. isosceles, and a possible third, R. asiatica. It has been used as a morphotaxon to describe other theropod teeth widely displaced in time and space from the type species. If all teeth assigned to the genus are truly reflective of the animals biology and taxonomic state, it would have been one of the longest lasting dinosaur genera, perhaps also being the most widely distributed.

<i>Caenagnathasia</i> Extinct species of reptile

Caenagnathasia is a small caenagnathid oviraptorosaurian theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan.

<i>Archaeornithomimus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Archaeornithomimus is a genus of ornithomimosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, around 96 million years ago in the Iren Dabasu Formation.

<i>Azhdarcho</i> Genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous

Azhdarcho is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan, as well as the Zhirkindek Formation of Kazakhstan and possibly also the Ialovachsk Formation of Tajikistan. It is known from fragmentary remains including the distinctive, elongated neck vertebrae that characterizes members of the family Azhdarchidae, a family that includes many giant pterosaurs such as Quetzalcoatlus. The name Azhdarcho comes from the Persian word azhdar (اژدر), a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology. The type species is Azhdarcho lancicollis. The specific epithet lancicollis is derived from the Latin words lancea and collum ("neck").

Asiaceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur. It lived during the Early-Late Cretaceous. The type species, A. salsopaludalis is known from Uzbekistan, while A. sulcidens is known from China and Mongolia.

<i>Turanoceratops</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Turanoceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. The fossils dated from the mid-late Turonian stage, roughly 90 million years ago. The skull bore a pair of long brow horns like those seen in the Ceratopsidae, although Turanoceratops appears to have been transitional between earlier ceratopsians and ceratopsids, and not a ceratopsid itself.

Bissektipelta is a genus of ankylosaurine thyreophoran dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. Bissektipelta is a monospecific genus, containing only the type species B. archibaldi.

<i>Pectinodon</i> Genus of bird-like dinosaur

Pectinodon is a genus of troodontid theropod dinosaurs from the end of the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period (66 mya). It currently contains a single valid species, Pectinodon bakkeri, known only from teeth.

<i>Euronychodon</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Euronychodon is the name given to a genus of coelurosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Europe and Asia. Euronychodon is known from teeth only. These are similar to those of another coelurosaur tooth genus, Paronychodon.

Zhyraornis is a genus of prehistoric bird from the late Cretaceous period. Its fossils have been found in Bissekty Formation deposits near Dzharakuduk in the Kyzyl Kum, Uzbekistan. Two species have been assigned to this genus: Zhyraornis kashkarovi and Zhyraornis logunovi. Both are known only from partial pelvic bones (synsacra).

Urbacodon is a genus of troodontid dinosaur, a type of small carnivore. It lived in Uzbekistan during the early Late Cretaceous Period, about 95 million years ago.

The Bostobe Formation is a geological formation in Qaraghandy & Qyzylorda, Kazakhastan whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous.

The Bissekty Formation is a geologic formation and Lagerstätte which crops out in the Kyzyl Kum desert of Uzbekistan, and dates to the Late Cretaceous Period. Laid down in the mid to late Turonian, it is dated to about 92 to 90 Ma.

The Ialovachsk or Yalovach Formation is a geologic formation in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan dating to the Santonian age of the Cretaceous period.

<i>Timurlengia</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Timurlengia is an extinct genus of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaur found in Uzbekistan, in the Bissekty Formation in the Kyzylkum Desert, hailing from the Turonian age of the early Late Cretaceous. The type species is Timurlengia euotica.

<i>Dzharatitanis</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Dzharatitanis is a genus of sauropod from the Bissekty Formation in Uzbekistan, dating to the Turonian age of the Late Cretaceous. The genus contains a single species, Dzharatitanis kingi, named after geologist Christopher King, who contributed to the Cretaceous geology of Asia. It is currently one of two known sauropods from the Bissekty Formation, alongside an indeterminate titanosaur. In its original publication it was considered to be a member of Rebbachisauridae, but later papers considered it to be a titanosaur.

<i>Kansaignathus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Kansaignathus is an extinct genus of dromaeosaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous Yalovach Formation of Tajikistan. The genus contains only one species, the type species, K. sogdianus. The generic name of Kansaignathus comes from near the town of Konsoy where it was discovered and the Greek word "gnathos" meaning "jaw". The specific epithet "sogdianus" is derived from the historical region of Sogdiana, which was an ancient name for the Fergana Valley region where the fossil was discovered. Kansaignathus is known from a single right dentary bone and a few post-cranial bone fragments. It was the first, and so far the only, dinosaur from Tajikistan to be described and named.

<i>Ulughbegsaurus</i> Genus of carcharodontosaurid (fossil)

Ulughbegsaurus is a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous aged Bissekty Formation, Uzbekistan. The type species is Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis.

Khulsanurus is an extinct genus of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Barungoyot Formation of the Khulsan Locality in the Gobi Desert region of Mongolia. The type and only species is Khulsanurus magnificus.

Dzharaonyx is a genus of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. The type species is Dzharaonyx eski; eski being an Uzbek word for "old".

References

  1. 1 2 L. A. Nessov. (1985). Rare bony fishes, terrestrial lizards, and mammals in the estuarine and coastal lowland zone of the Kyzyl-Kum Cretaceous. Yearbook of the All-Union Paleontological Association 28:199-219 [in Russian]
  2. 1 2 3 4 Nessov, L. A. (1995). Dinozavri severnoi Yevrasii: Novye dannye o sostave kompleksov, ekologii i paleobiogeografii [Dinosaurs of Northern Eurasia: new data about assemblages, ecology and paleobiogeography], Scientific Research Institute of the Earth's Crust, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia: 156 pp. + 14 pl. [in Russian with short English, German, and French abstracts].
  3. 1 2 3 Alexander Averianov & Hans-Dieter Sues. (2019). "Morphometric analysis of the teeth and taxonomy of the enigmatic theropod Richardoestesia from the Upper Cretaceous of Uzbekistan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: e1614941
  4. Nessov, L.A. (1997). Cretaceous nonmarine vertebrates of northern Eurasia. Saint Petersburg: University of Saint Petersburg Institute of Earth Crust, 218 pp. [in Russian].
  5. Buffetaut, Suteethorn, Tong and Amiot (2008). "An Early Cretaceous spinosaurid theropod from southern China." Geological Magazine, 145(5): 745–748.
  6. Sues H.D. and Averianov, A. (2013). "Enigmatic teeth of small theropod dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Turonian) of Uzbekistan". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 50: 306-314