Gonkoken

Last updated

Gonkoken
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), ~71.7–70.5  Ma
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Gonkoken.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Neornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Superfamily: Hadrosauroidea
Genus: Gonkoken
Alarcón-Muñoz et al., 2023
Species:
G. nanoi
Binomial name
Gonkoken nanoi
Alarcón-Muñoz et al., 2023

Gonkoken (meaning "similar to a wild duck or swan") is an extinct genus of hadrosauroid ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Dorotea Formation of Chilean Patagonia. The genus contains a single species, G. nanoi, known from disarticulated bones of multiple individuals. [1]

Contents

Discovery and naming

The Gonkoken fossil specimens were discovered beginning in 2013 in sediments of the Dorotea Formation in the Río de las Chinas Valley, Estancia Cerro Guido, in Magallanes Region, Chile. The holotype specimen, CPAP 3054, consists of a right ilium. Additional material assigned as paratype includes the disarticulated bones of at least three individuals. These bones include skull material, cervical, dorsal, and caudal vertebrae, ribs, partial pectoral and pelvic girdles, and arm and leg bones. [1]

In 2023, Alarcón-Muñoz et al. described Gonkoken nanoi as a new genus and species of hadrosauroid ornithopod based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "Gonkoken", combines the Aónik’enk words "gon", meaning "same as" or "similar to" and "koken", meaning "wild duck" or "swan". The specific name, "nanoi", honors Mario "Nano" Ulloa. [1]

Description

Life restoration Gonkoken nanoi.png
Life restoration

Gonkoken was a relatively small hadrosauroid, with an approximate body length of 4 metres (13 ft). It exhibits a blend of derived hadrosaurid traits and ancestral hadrosauroid traits. [1]

Classification

Alarcón-Muñoz et al. (2023) recovered Gonkoken as a derived, non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroid, proving that these taxa survived until the very end of the Cretaceous in southern South America. It was thus unrelated to other the South American hadrosaurids, Bonapartesaurus , Huallasaurus , Kelumapusaura , and Secernosaurus , which were found to belong to their own group of saurolophine hadrosaurids called Austrokritosauria. Both groups likely dispersed to South America from North America. The results of their phylogenetic analyses are shown in the cladogram below, with South American taxa highlighted: [1]

Paleoenvironment

Gonkoken was discovered in layers of the Dorotea Formation, which dates to the lower Maastrichtian, between 71.7 ± 1.2 and 70.5 ± 5.0 million years ago. [1] The parankylosaur Stegouros has also been described from the formation. [2] Fossils belonging to amphibians, mammals, fish, reptiles, and several invertebrates have also been discovered there, along with material belonging to indeterminate sauropod, theropod, and ornithischian dinosaurs. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thyreophora</span> Extinct clade of dinosaurs

Thyreophora is a group of armored ornithischian dinosaurs that lived from the Early Jurassic until the end of the Cretaceous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ankylosauria</span> Extinct order of dinosaurs

Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the clade Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. They are known to have first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, and persisted until the end of the Cretaceous Period. The two main families of Ankylosaurs, Nodosauridae and Ankylosauridae are primarily known from the Northern Hemisphere, but the more basal Parankylosauria are known from southern Gondwana during the Cretaceous.

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

Hadrosaurids, or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which includes genera such as Edmontosaurus and Parasaurolophus, was a common group of herbivores during the Late Cretaceous Period. Hadrosaurids are descendants of the Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous iguanodontian dinosaurs and had a similar body layout. Hadrosaurs were among the most dominant herbivores during the Late Cretaceous in Asia and North America, and during the close of the Cretaceous several lineages dispersed into Europe, Africa, and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thagomizer</span> Spiked structure on the tails of dinosaurs of the family Stegosauria

A thagomizer is the distinctive arrangement of four spikes on the tails of stegosaurian dinosaurs. These spikes are believed to have been a defensive measure against predators.

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

Gargoyleosaurus is one of the earliest ankylosaurs known from reasonably complete fossil remains. The holotype was discovered in 1995 at the Bone Cabin Quarry West locality, in Albany County, Wyoming in exposures of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation.

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

Secernosaurus is a genus of herbivorous dinosaur. Secernosaurus was a hadrosaur, a "duck-billed" dinosaur which lived during the Late Cretaceous.

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

Antarctopelta is a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur, a group of large, quadrupedal herbivores, that lived during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period on what is now James Ross Island, Antarctica. Antarctopelta is the only known ankylosaur from Antarctica and a member of Parankylosauria. The only described specimen was found in 1986, the first dinosaur to be found on the continent, by Argentine geologists Eduardo Olivero and Robert Scasso. The fossils were later described in 2006 by paleontologists Leonardo Salgado and Zulma Gasparini, who named the type species A. oliveroi after Olivero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saurolophinae</span> Extinct subfamily of dinosaurs

Saurolophinae is a subfamily of hadrosaurid dinosaurs. It has since the mid-20th century generally been called the Hadrosaurinae, a group of largely non-crested hadrosaurs related to the crested sub-family Lambeosaurinae. However, the name Hadrosaurinae is based on the genus Hadrosaurus which was found in more recent studies to be more primitive than either lambeosaurines or other traditional "hadrosaurines", like Edmontosaurus and Saurolophus. As a result of this, the name Hadrosaurinae was dropped or restricted to Hadrosaurus alone, and the subfamily comprising the traditional "hadrosaurines" was renamed the Saurolophinae. Recent phylogenetic work by Hai Xing indicates that Hadrosaurus is placed within the monophyletic group containing all non-lambeosaurine hadrosaurids. Under this view, the traditional Hadrosaurinae is resurrected, with the Hadrosauridae being divided into two clades: Hadrosaurinae and Lambeosaurinae.

Yaminuechelys is an extinct genus of chelid turtle from Argentina and the Dorotea Formation of Chile. The genus first appeared during the Late Cretaceous and became extinct during the Late Paleocene.

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

Morrosaurus is an extinct genus of herbivorous elasmarian dinosaur that lived in the late Cretaceous in Antarctica. The only known species is the type Morrosaurus antarcticus.

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

Kunbarrasaurus is an extinct genus of small ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Australia. The genus conatins a single species, K. ieversi.

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

Bonapartesaurus is an extinct genus of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaur belonging to Hadrosauridae, which lived in the area of modern Argentina during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorotea Formation</span> Geological formation in the Río de Las Chinas Valley, Magallanes Basin, Chile

The Dorotea Formation is a geological formation in the Río de Las Chinas Valley of the Magallanes Basin in Patagonian Chile whose strata date back to the Campanian to Maastrichtian of the Late Cretaceous.

<i>Arackar</i> Genus of lithostrotian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period

Arackar is an extinct genus of lithostrotian sauropod, possibly part of the Saltasauridae, discovered in the Hornitos Formation of Atacama Province, Chile. The genus contains a single species, Arackar licanantay, described by Rubilar-Rogers et al. in 2021.

<i>Orretherium</i> Extinct mammal genus

Orretherium is a genus of mesungulatid mammal that lived in South America (Chile) during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Dorotea Formation.

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

Stegouros is a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Dorotea Formation of southern Chile. The genus contains a single species, Stegouros elengassen, known from a semi-articulated, near-complete skeleton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parankylosauria</span> Extinct group of dinosaurs

Parankylosauria is a group of basal ankylosaurian dinosaurs known from the Cretaceous of South America, Antarctica, and Australia. It is thought the group split from other ankylosaurs during the mid-Jurassic period, despite this being unpreserved in the fossil record.

<i>Huallasaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaur

Huallasaurus is an extinct genus of saurolophine hadrosaur from the Late Cretaceous Los Alamitos Formation of Patagonia in Argentina. The type and only species is H. australis. Originally named as a species of Kritosaurus in 1984, it was long considered a synonym of Secernosaurus before being recognized as its own distinct genus in a 2022 study, different from other members of Kritosaurini.

<i>Kelumapusaura</i> Extinct genus of dinosaur

Kelumapusaura is a genus of saurolophine hadrosaur from the Late Cretaceous Allen Formation in what is now Patagonia in Argentina. The type and only species is K. machi, known from a bonebed of various individuals.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Alarcón-Muñoz, Jhonatan; Vargas, Alexander O.; Püschel, Hans P.; Soto-Acuña, Sergio; Manríquez, Leslie; Leppe, Marcelo; Kaluza, Jonatan; Milla, Verónica; Gutstein, Carolina S.; Palma-Liberona, José; Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang; Frey, Eberhard; Pino, Juan Pablo; Bajor, Dániel; Núñez, Elaine; Ortiz, Héctor; Rubilar-Rogers, David; Cruzado-Caballero, Penélope (2023-06-16). "Relict duck-billed dinosaurs survived into the last age of the dinosaurs in subantarctic Chile". Science Advances. 9 (24): eadg2456. Bibcode:2023SciA....9G2456A. doi:10.1126/sciadv.adg2456. ISSN   2375-2548. PMC   10275600 . PMID   37327335.
  2. Soto-Acuña, Sergio; Vargas, Alexander; Kaluza, Jonatan; Leppe, Marcelo; Botelho, Joao; Palma-Liberona, José; Gutstein, Carolina; Fernández, Roy; Ortiz, Hector; Milla, Verónica; Aravena, Bárbara; Manríquez, Leslie M. E.; Alarcón-Muñoz, Jhonatan; Pino, Juan Pablo; Trevisan, Cristine; Mansilla, Héctor; Hinojosa, Luis Felipe; Muñoz-Walther, Vicente; Rubilar-Rogers, David (2021). "Bizarre tail weaponry in a transitional ankylosaur from subantarctic Chile". Nature. 600 (7888): 259–263. Bibcode:2021Natur.600..259S. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04147-1. PMID   34853468. S2CID   244799975.
  3. Alarcón-Muñoz, Jhonatan; Soto-Acuña, Sergio; Manríquez, Leslie M. E.; Fernández, Roy A.; Bajor, Dániel; Guevara, Juan Pablo; Suazo Lara, Felipe; Leppe, Marcelo A.; Vargas, Alexander O. (2020-10-01). "Freshwater turtles (Testudines: Pleurodira) in the Upper Cretaceous of Chilean Patagonia". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 102: 102652. Bibcode:2020JSAES.10202652A. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102652. ISSN   0895-9811. S2CID   219463528.