Fona

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Fona
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian), ~99.4–99.2  Ma
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Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Neornithischia
Family: Thescelosauridae
Subfamily: Thescelosaurinae
Genus: Fona
Avrahami et al., 2024
Species:
F. herzogae
Binomial name
Fona herzogae
Avrahami et al., 2024

Fona (meaning "the origin") is an extinct genus of thescelosaurine thescelosaurid ornithischian dinosaurs from the 'mid'-Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation (Mussentuchit Member) of Utah, United States. The genus contains a single species, F. herzogae, known from several partial skeletons and skulls. Based on anatomical similarities to the closely related and similarly-aged Oryctodromeus , Fona was likely a semi-fossorial animal, likely spending a significant amount of time in underground burrows. It also represents the oldest known definitive thescelosaurine. [1]

Contents

Discovery and naming

The Fona fossil material was discovered in multiple different localities of the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation in Emery County of Utah, United States. The holotype specimen, NCSM 33548, was found in the 'Karmic Orodromine locality' and represents the only certain occurrence of Fona in the lower Mussentuchit Member. This specimen consists of mostly complete and somewhat articulated skeleton. Other outcrops yielded several other specimens referrable to Fona based on similarities in the skeletal anatomy. FMNH PR 4581 was found in the 'Manolo site', which is slightly younger than the holotype locality. It is also a mostly complete skeleton, missing most of the cranium, pelvis, and metatarsals. The youngest rocks with Fona material represent the 'Mini Troll locality'. Here, the skeletons of two well preserved, similarly sized individuals were found together, as well as some bones of juvenile specimens. [1]

Prior to the formal naming of Fona, the fossil material was reported in several conference abstracts [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] and academic papers without thorough description, where it was typically mentioned as belonging to an orodromine thescelosaurid. [7] [8] [9]

In 2024, Avrahami et al. described Fona herzogae as a new genus and species of thescelosaurine ornithopod based on these fossil remains. The generic name, Fona (pronounced "foat-nah" IPA: [ˈfoʊtnɑː] , references a figure of the same name in CHamoru culture (in Finoʼ CHamoru, an Austronesian language). Here, Fona (whose name means "the origin") is the ancestral maga'håga, or authoritative female in a clan. [10] According to tradition, she used her powers to turn herself and her brother into the Earth and the life on it, after which she turns into stone. This story recalls the associated skeletons of two Fona subadults—which may have been siblings or a male/female pair that were fossilized—as well as efforts to recognize the equality of men and women and decolonize paleontology. The specific name, herzogae, honors Lisa Herzog, the discoverer of the Mini Troll locality from which several Fona specimens are known, and her contributions to fossil conservation. [1]

Family of the related Oryctodromeus outside a burrow Oryctodromeus family Wayan.jpg
Family of the related Oryctodromeus outside a burrow

Classification

In their phylogenetic analyses, Avrahami et al. (2024) recovered Fona as a basal member of the Thescelosaurinae within the Thescelosauridae. The temporally and geographically close Oryctodromeus was consistently recovered as a close relative, followed by all three latest Cretaceous species of Thescelosaurus . The exact relationships of thescelosaurines depended on whether the analysis was time-calibrated. If it was not, Fona and Oryctodromeus were recovered in a clade as the sister taxon to Thescelosaurus (displayed in Topology A). It it was time-calibrated, Oryctodromeus was found as the next diverging member of the Thescelosaurinae after Fona, followed by Thescelosaurus (displayed in Topology B). These results are displayed in the cladograms below: [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hypsilophodontidae</span> Extinct family of dinosaurs

Hypsilophodontidae is a traditionally used family of ornithopod dinosaurs, generally considered invalid today. It historically included many small bodied bipedal neornithischian taxa from around the world, and spanning from the Middle Jurassic until the Late Cretaceous. This inclusive status was supported by some phylogenetic analyses from the 1990s and mid 2000s, although there have also been many finding that the family is an unnatural grouping which should only include the type genus, Hypsilophodon, with the other genera being within clades like Thescelosauridae and Elasmaria. A 2014 analysis by Norman recovered a grouping of Hypsilophodon, Rhabdodontidae and Tenontosaurus, which he referred to as Hypsilophodontia. All other analyses from around the same time have instead found these latter taxa to be within Iguanodontia.

<i>Thescelosaurus</i> Ornithischian dinosaur genus from Late Cretaceous US and Canada

Thescelosaurus was a genus of neornithischian dinosaur that appeared at the very end of the Late Cretaceous period in North America. It was a member of the last dinosaurian fauna before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event around 66 million years ago. The preservation and completeness of many of its specimens indicate that it may have preferred to live near streams.

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

Animantarx is a genus of nodosaurid ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Early and Late Cretaceous of western North America. Like other nodosaurs, it would have been a slow-moving quadrupedal herbivore covered in heavy armor scutes, but without a tail club. The skull measures approximately 25 cm in length, suggesting the animal as a whole was no more than 3 meters long.

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

Eolambia is a genus of herbivorous hadrosauroid dinosaur from the early Late Cretaceous of the United States. It contains a single species, E. caroljonesa, named by paleontologist James Kirkland in 1998. The type specimen of Eolambia was discovered by Carole and Ramal Jones in 1993; the species name honors Carole. Since then, hundreds of bones have been discovered from both adults and juveniles, representing nearly every element of the skeleton. All of the specimens have thus far been found in Emery County, Utah, in a layer of rock known as the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation.

<i>Cedarpelta</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Cedarpelta is an extinct genus of basal ankylosaurid dinosaur from Utah that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation. The type and only species, Cedarpelta bilbeyhallorum, is known from multiple specimens including partial skulls and postcranial material. It was named in 2001 by Kenneth Carpenter, James Kirkland, Don Burge, and John Bird. Cedarpelta has an estimated length of 7 metres and weight of 5 tonnes (11,023 lbs). The skull of Cedarpelta lacks extensive cranial ornamentation and is one of the only known ankylosaurs with individual skull bones that are not completely fused together.

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

Oryctodromeus was a genus of small orodromine thescelosaurid dinosaur. Fossils are known from the Late Cretaceous Blackleaf Formation of southwestern Montana and the Wayan Formation of southeastern Idaho, USA, both of the Cenomanian stage, roughly 105-96 million years ago. A member of the small, presumably fast-running herbivorous family Thescelosauridae, Oryctodromeus is the first non-avian dinosaur published that shows evidence of burrowing behavior.

The Cedar Mountain Formation is the name given to a distinctive sedimentary geologic formation in eastern Utah, spanning most of the early and mid-Cretaceous. The formation was named for Cedar Mountain in northern Emery County, Utah, where William Lee Stokes first studied the exposures in 1944.

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

Peloroplites is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from Utah that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation. The type and only species, Peloroplites cedrimontanus, is known from a partial skull and postcranial skeleton. It was named in 2008 by Kenneth Carpenter and colleagues. Peloroplites was 6 metres long and weighed 2 tonnes, making it one of the largest known nodosaurids, and came from a time when ankylosaurids and nodosaurids were attaining large sizes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayan Formation</span> Stratigraphic Unit in Idaho

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<i>Dakotasuchus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Dakotasuchus is a genus of goniopholidid mesoeucrocodylian. Its fossils have been recovered from the Cenomanian-age Upper Cretaceous Dakota Sandstone of Kansas. The type specimen was found in an iron-cemented sandstone concretion near Salina. This concretion was broken into two large pieces; more of the specimen was probably present originally, but by the time it was found only the torso and short portions of the neck and tail remained. Twenty pairs of bony scutes ran down the midline of the back. The vertebrae lacked the procoelous articulation of more derived crocodyliforms. Dakotasuchus had short broad shoulder blades, suggesting it had stout powerful forelimbs and perhaps terrestrial habits. M. G. Mehl, who described the genus, estimated the length of the type individual when complete to have been 3–4 metres (9.8–13.1 ft). The type species is D. kingi, named for Professor King, a former dean of Kansas Wesleyan University. Mehl did not classify his new genus to a more inclusive group than Mesosuchia. Robert Carroll assigned Dakotasuchus to Goniopholididae in 1988. In 2017, fossils of Dakotasuchus kingi which consisted of a coracoid, scutes, a dorsal vertebrate and postcranial bones were found in Utah, specifically in the Cedar Mountain Formation's Mussentuchit Member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thescelosauridae</span> Extinct family of dinosaurs

Thescelosauridae is a clade of neornithischians from the Cretaceous of East Asia and North America. The group was originally used as a name by Charles M. Sternberg in 1937, but was not formally defined until 2013, where it was used by Brown and colleagues as the group uniting Thescelosaurus and Orodromeus, based on their phylogenetic results. During a phylogenetic revision of neornithischians by Clint Boyd in 2015, the authorship of Thescelosauridae was given to Brown and colleagues, which meant that the similar name Parksosauridae, informally defined in 2002 by Buchholz, would have had priority over Thescelosauridae. The two clades had slightly different definitions, with Parksosauridae referring to all animals closer to Parksosaurus than Hypsilophodon, but they contained the same taxa so Boyd used Parksosauridae under the assumption it had priority. However, in formalizing the clade following the regulations of the PhyloCode, Madzia, Boyd, and colleagues identified in 2021 that Sternberg was the proper authority for Thescelosauridae, giving it priority over Parksosauridae. As well, they gave Thescelosauridae the definition of the largest clade containing Thescelosaurus neglectus but not Iguanodon bernissartensis, as long as Hypsilophodon foxii was not in the group, modifying previous definitions for Thescelosauridae in order to maintain its modern use, so that the clade was not applied if Thescelosaurus fell within Hypsilophodontidae, a family that has not been recently used but may be revived if the systematic position of Hypsilophodon was solidified at some point in the future. Madzia et al. identified the analysis of Madzia et al. in 2018 as the reference analysis for the name Thescelosauridae, an analysis based on a revised version of the 2015 Boyd analysis.

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

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

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<i>Haya griva</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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Talos is an extinct genus of carnivorous bird-like theropod dinosaur, an advanced troodontid which lived during the late Cretaceous period in the geographic area that is now Utah, United States.

<i>Siats</i> Extinct genus of theropod dinosaur

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Lindsay E. Zanno is an American vertebrate paleontologist and a leading expert on theropod dinosaurs and Cretaceous paleoecosystems. She is the Head of Paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University.

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

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Avrahami, Haviv M.; Makovicky, Peter J.; Tucker, Ryan T.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2024-07-09). "A new semi‐fossorial thescelosaurine dinosaur from the Cenomanian‐age Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah". The Anatomical Record . doi:10.1002/ar.25505. ISSN   1932-8486.
  2. Makovicky, Peter J.; Zanno, Lindsay E.; Gates, Terry A. (2015). The advent of North America's Late Cretaceous fauna revisited: insights from new discoveries and improved phylogenies (PDF). Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 75th Annual Meeting. pp. 172–173.
  3. Avrahami, Haviv M.; Makovicky, Peter J.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2019). Paleohistology of a new orodromine from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah; Histological implications for burrowing behavior (PDF). Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 79th Annual Meeting. pp. 56–57.
  4. Avrahami, Haviv M.; Makovicky, Peter J.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2020). The cranial anatomy of a new orodromine from the Cenomanian-aged Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah (PDF). Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 80th Annual Meeting. p. 66.
  5. Avrahami, Haviv M.; Makovicky, Peter J.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2020). A new orodromine from the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah (PDF). Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 82nd Annual Meeting. pp. 70–71.
  6. Avrahami, Haviv M.; Makovicky, Peter J.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2023). An exceptional assemblage of new orodromine dinosaurs from the poorly-characterized mid-Cretaceous of North America. 14th Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota. Vol. 306. pp. 261–264.
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  8. Zanno, Lindsay E.; Gates, Terry A.; Ayrahami, Haviv M.; Tucker, Ryan T.; Makovicky, Peter J. (2023). "An early-diverging iguanodontian (Dinosauria: Rhabdodontomorpha) from the Late Cretaceous of North America". PLOS ONE. 18 (6). e0286042. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286042 . PMC   10246810 . PMID   37285376.
  9. Button, David J.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (6 November 2023). "Neuroanatomy of the late Cretaceous Thescelosaurus neglectus (Neornithischia: Thescelosauridae) reveals novel ecological specialisations within Dinosauria". Scientific Reports . 13 (1): 19224. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-45658-3. PMC   10628235 . PMID   37932280.
  10. Imahen Taotao Tano (2019-01-14). "Maga'håga". Guma' Imåhen Taotao Tåno. Archived from the original on 2023-03-20. Retrieved 2024-07-09.