Fukuiraptor

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Fukuiraptor
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 125–115  Ma
Fukuiraptor Odaiba 2.jpg
Reconstructed skeleton
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade:† Megaraptora
Genus:† Fukuiraptor
Azuma & Currie, 2000
Type species
†Fukuiraptor kitadaniensis
Azuma & Currie, 2000

Fukuiraptor ("thief of Fukui") is a genus of medium-sized megaraptoran theropod dinosaur of the Early Cretaceous epoch (either Barremian or Aptian) that lived in what is now Japan. [1] Fukuiraptor is known from the Kitadani Formation [2] and possibly also the Sebayashi Formation. [3] Fukuiraptor may have been one of the basalmost members of Megaraptora, or a sister taxon to Australovenator .

Contents

History

Reconstructed skeleton and holotype fossils on the lower right hukuiraputorunoQuan Shen Gu Ge Hua Shi .jpg
Reconstructed skeleton and holotype fossils on the lower right

The type specimen is a partial skeleton (designated FPDM-V97122) discovered in the Kitadani quarry near Katsuyama in the Fukui prefecture. It is thought that this specimen was not mature and an adult may have been larger. The remains of many other individuals have been found in the quarry, with numerous humeri, femurs, and teeth being assigned to this species. [2] However, the other individuals recovered from the same locality are mostly juveniles that were smaller than the holotype (Currie & Azuma, 2006), in the smallest case less than a quarter of the holotype's size. A tooth (NDC-P0001) discovered in a block of conglomerate from the Sebayashi Formation has been referred to Fukuiraptor as well. [3]

Description

Size comparison Fukuiraptor scale diagram.png
Size comparison

As indicated by its slender phalanges, Fukuiraptor was a relatively lightly built animal, regardless of its maturity. [1] The immature holotype is estimated to reach 4.2 metres (14 ft) long and weigh 175 kg (386 lb) in its initial description. [1] In 2010 Gregory Paul gave a length of 5 meters (16 ft) and a weight of 300 kg (660 lbs). [4] In 2014, its body mass was estimated up to 250 kilograms (550 lb). [5] Molina-Pérez and Larramendi estimated a length of 4.3 meters (14.1 ft) and a weight of 590 kg (1,300 lbs) in 2016. [6]

The distinctive teeth of Fukuiraptor show similarities with both carcharodontosaurids (being very compressed and blade-like, as well as having wrinkled enamel) and tyrannosaurids (having oblique blood grooves near the serrations). [2] The holotype also had very large and flat manual unguals (hand claws), which played a role in its initial classification as a dromaeosaurid (as the hand claws were mistaken for foot claws) as well as its current classification as a megaraptoran. [7]

Classification

Initially considered a member of the Dromaeosauridae when first discovered, its initial describers considered it a carnosaur, related to Allosaurus . More recent studies consider it a megaraptoran, an enigmatic group which may have been part of the family Neovenatoridae. [7] However, more recently, another analysis has proposed that all megaraptorans are actually tyrannosauroids, which would reclassify Fukuiraptor as a tyrannosauroid coelurosaur. [8] Recent cladistic analysis of the theropod Gualicho has suggested that Fukuiraptor and other megaraptorans are either allosauroids, or non-tyrannosauroid basal coelurosaurs. [9]

Neovenatoridae

It has been suggested that Fukuiraptor is a close relative to the Australian megaraptoran known as Australovenator , [10] however a subsequent study has placed Australovenator as a megaraptorid megaraptoran alongside other derived South American taxa, while Fukuiraptor remains a megaraptoran outside of Megaraptoridae. [11]

Below is a cladogram reconstructing the position of Fukuiraptor in the Megaraptora as per Delcourt and Grillo, 2018. [11]

Megaraptora

Palaeoecology

Stratigraphic positions of the non-avialan dinosaurs of the Kitadani Formation, Japan. Fukuivenator skeleton and stratigraphy.jpg
Stratigraphic positions of the non-avialan dinosaurs of the Kitadani Formation, Japan.
Life restoration of Fukuiraptor hunting Tyrannomimus . teiranomimusuwoShou ruhukuiraputoru.jpg
Life restoration of Fukuiraptor hunting Tyrannomimus .

In the Kitadani Formation, where fossils of Fukuiraptor have been recovered, [1] fossils of other vertebrates have been preserved. Among the species that have been properly described and named are Fukuisaurus tetoriensis , [12] a styracostern ornithischian, Fukuititan nipponensis , [13] a titanosauriform sauropod, Koshisaurus katsuyama , [14] a hadrosauroid ornithischian, Fukuivenator paradoxus , [15] a possible therizinosaurian theropod, and Fukuipteryx prima , [16] an avialan as defined by the authors.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Azuma, Yoichi; Philip J., Currie (2000). "A new carnosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of Japan" (PDF). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 37 (12): 1735–1753. Bibcode:2000CaJES..37.1735A. doi:10.1139/e00-064.
  2. 1 2 3 Currie, P.J.; Azuma, Y. (2006). "New specimens, including a growth series, of Fukuiraptor (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous Kitadani Quarry of Japan". J. Paleont. Soc. Korea. 22 (1): 173–193 – via ResearchGate.
  3. 1 2 Molnar, Ralph E.; Obata, Ikuwo; Tanimoto, Masahiro; Matsukawa, Masaki (2009). "A tooth of Fukuiraptor aff. F. kitadaniensis from the Lower Cretaceous Sebayashi Formation, Sanchu Cretaceous, Japan". Bulletin of Tokyo Gakugei University, Division of Natural Sciences. 61: 105–117 – via ResearchGate.
  4. ↑ Paul, Gregory S. (2010). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 98.
  5. ↑ Benson, Roger B. J.; Campione, Nicolás E.; Carrano, Matthew T.; Mannion, Philip D.; Sullivan, Corwin; Upchurch, Paul; Evans, David C. (6 May 2014). "Rates of Dinosaur Body Mass Evolution Indicate 170 Million Years of Sustained Ecological Innovation on the Avian Stem Lineage". PLOS Biology. 12 (5): e1001853. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001853 . ISSN   1545-7885. PMC   4011683 . PMID   24802911. Supporting Information
  6. ↑ Molina-Pérez & Larramendi (2016). Récords y curiosidades de los dinosaurios Terópodos y otros dinosauromorfos. Barcelona, Spain: Larousse. p. 263.
  7. 1 2 Benson, R. B. J.; Carrano, M. T.; Brusatte, S. L. (2010). "A new clade of archaic large-bodied predatory dinosaurs (Theropoda: Allosauroidea) that survived to the latest Mesozoic". Naturwissenschaften. 97 (1): 71–78. Bibcode:2010NW.....97...71B. doi:10.1007/s00114-009-0614-x. PMID   19826771. S2CID   22646156.
  8. ↑ Novas, F. E.; Agnolín, F. L.; Ezcurra, M. D.; Canale, J. I.; Porfiri, J. D. (2012). "Megaraptorans as members of an unexpected evolutionary radiation of tyrant-reptiles in Gondwana". Ameghiniana . 49 (4(R): Suplemento Resúmenes [Abstracts]): R33.
  9. ↑ Apesteguía, Sebastián; Smith, Nathan D.; Valieri, Rubén Juárez; Makovicky, Peter J. (13 July 2016). "An Unusual New Theropod with a Didactyl Manus from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina". PLOS ONE. 11 (7): e0157793. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1157793A. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157793 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   4943716 . PMID   27410683.
  10. ↑ Currie, Phillip J.; Coria, Rodolfo A. (20 July 2016). "A New Megaraptoran Dinosaur (Dinosauria, Theropoda, Megaraptoridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia". PLOS ONE. 11 (7): e0157973. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1157973C. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157973 . PMC   4954680 . PMID   27439002.
  11. 1 2 Delcourt, Rafael; Grillo, Orlando Nelson (15 December 2018). "Tyrannosauroids from the Southern Hemisphere: Implications for biogeography, evolution, and taxonomy" . Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 511: 379–387. Bibcode:2018PPP...511..379D. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.09.003. ISSN   0031-0182. S2CID   133830150.
  12. ↑ Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu; Azuma, Yoichi (11 April 2003). "A new iguanodontian (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Lower Cretaceous Kitadani Formation of Fukui Prefecture, Japan" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 23 (1): 166–175. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2003)23[166:anidof]2.0.co;2. ISSN   0272-4634. S2CID   131386181.
  13. ↑ Azuma, Yoichi; Shibata, Masateru (2010). "Fukuititan nipponensis, A New Titanosauriform Sauropod from the Early Cretaceous Tetori Group of Fukui Prefecture, Japan" . Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition. 84 (3): 454–462. Bibcode:2010AcGlS..84..454A. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6724.2010.00268.x. ISSN   1755-6724. S2CID   128897110.
  14. ↑ Shibata, Yoichi; Azuma, Masateru (2015). "New basal hadrosauroid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Lower Cretaceous Kitadani Formation, Fukui, central Japan" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3914 (4): 421–440. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3914.4.3.
  15. ↑ Azuma, Yoichi; Xu, Xing; Shibata, Masateru; Kawabe, Soichiro; Miyata, Kazunori; Imai, Takuya (23 February 2016). "A bizarre theropod from the Early Cretaceous of Japan highlighting mosaic evolution among coelurosaurians". Scientific Reports. 6 (1): 20478. Bibcode:2016NatSR...620478A. doi:10.1038/srep20478. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   4763874 . PMID   26908367.
  16. ↑ Imai, Takuya; Azuma, Yoichi; Kawabe, Soichiro; Shibata, Masateru; Miyata, Kazunori; Wang, Min; Zhou, Zhonghe (14 November 2019). "An unusual bird (Theropoda, Avialae) from the Early Cretaceous of Japan suggests complex evolutionary history of basal birds". Communications Biology. 2 (1): 399. doi: 10.1038/s42003-019-0639-4 . ISSN   2399-3642. PMC   6856171 . PMID   31754639.
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