Harenadraco Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
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Life restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Family: | † Troodontidae |
Genus: | † Harenadraco Lee et al., 2024 |
Species: | †H. prima |
Binomial name | |
†Harenadraco prima Lee et al., 2024 | |
Harenadraco (meaning "sand dragon") is an extinct genus of troodontid theropod dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Baruungoyot Formation of Mongolia. The genus contains a single species, H. prima, known from a fragmentary skeleton. Harenadraco represents the first troodontid known from the Baruungoyot Formation. Since members of this family are also known from the Nemegt and Djadochta Formations, the discovery of Harendraco indicates that troodontids were important faunal components of every formation within the Nemegt Basin.
The Harenadraco holotype specimen, MPC-D 110/119, was discovered in 2018 in sediments of the Baruungoyot Formation (Hermiin Tsav locality) in Ömnögovi Province, Mongolia. The specimen consists of a fragmentary and partially articulated skeleton, comprising pieces of the right ilium, the end of the right femur, and several bones from the left hind leg, including the top of the femur, the end of the tibiotarsus, the second through fourth metatarsals, and several pedal phalanges. Some unidentified bone fragments are also associated with the skeleton. [2]
In 2024, Lee et al. described Harenadraco prima as a new genus and species of troodontid theropod based on these fossil remains. The generic name, Harenadraco , combines the Latin words "harena", meaning "sand", and "draco", meaning "dragon". The specific name, prima, is a Latin word meaning "first", referencing the fact that Harenadraco is the first troodontid known from its geological formation. [2]
In their phylogenetic analyses, Lee et al. (2024) recovered Harenadraco, along with an unnamed specimen from the Wulansuhai Formation, as the earliest diverging members of an otherwise entirely Chinese clade of troodontids. This clade is the sister taxon to all other troodontids. Their results are displayed in the cladogram below: [2]
Troodontidae |
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Harenadraco is known from the Hermiin Tsav locality of the Baruungoyot Formation. [2] This locality is known for its abundant dinosaur remains. Based on stratigraphy and fossil content, the formation is consistently regarded as Late Cretaceous (possibly Upper Campanian) in age, although radiometric dates have not been determined. [1]
The Baruungoyot Formation is largely characterized by red beds, with many light-colored well-cemented sands (yellowish, grey-brown, and some reddish). Some sandy claystones (often red-colored), siltstones, conglomerates, and cross-bedded sands are also common. The formation's geology indicates that sediments were likely deposited under relatively arid to semiarid climates in alluvial plain (flat land consisting of sediments deposited by highland rivers), lacustrine (lake), and aeolian (wind-shaped) paleoenvironments, with occasional short-lived water bodies. [1] [4] [5]
Fossil remains of many vertebrates have been found in various layers of the Baruungoyot Formation. Most notably, dinosaurs are some of the most abundant, with many species having been described. Maniraptoran theropods are especially common, including dromaeosaurids ( Hulsanpes , Kuru , Natovenator , and Shri ), [6] [7] [8] oviraptorids ( Conchoraptor , Heyuannia and Nemegtomaia ), [9] alvarezsaurids ( Ceratonykus , Jaculinykus , Khulsanurus , Ondogurvel , and Parvicursor ), [10] and birds ( Gobipipus , Gobipteryx and Hollanda ). [11] [12] Remarkably, Harenadraco is the first troodontid known from this formation, despite the fact that the Nemegt and Djadochta Formations—the other two similarly aged geological formations in the Mongolian Nemegt Basin—both preserve multiple troodontid taxa. [2]
Several non-theropod dinosaurs are also present, including the titanosaurian sauropod ( Quaesitosaurus ), [13] ankylosaurids ( Saichania , Tarchia and Zaraapelta ), [14] protoceratopsids ( Bagaceratops and Breviceratops ), [15] and a pachycephalosaurid ( Tylocephale ). [16]
Non-dinosaurian animals from the formation include several fossil fish, amphibians, turtles, and many lizards and mammals (including djadochtatheriids, eutherians, multituberculates, and tribosphenidans). [17]
Anserimimus is a genus of ornithomimid theropod dinosaur, from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. It was a lanky, fast-running animal, possibly an omnivore. From what fossils are known, it probably closely resembled other ornithomimids, except for its more powerful forelimbs.
Avimimus, meaning "bird mimic", is a genus of oviraptorosaurian theropod dinosaur, named for its bird-like characteristics, that lived in the late Cretaceous in what is now Mongolia, around 85 to 70 million years ago.
Philip John Currie is a Canadian palaeontologist and museum curator who helped found the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta and is now a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. In the 1980s, he became the director of the Canada-China Dinosaur Project, the first cooperative palaeontological partnering between China and the West since the Central Asiatic Expeditions in the 1920s, and helped describe some of the first feathered dinosaurs. He is one of the primary editors of the influential Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, and his areas of expertise include theropods, the origin of birds, and dinosaurian migration patterns and herding behavior. He was one of the models for palaeontologist Alan Grant in the film Jurassic Park.
Adasaurus is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago. The genus is known from two partial specimens found in the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia that were partially described in 1983 by the paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold.
Conchoraptor is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 70 million years ago. It is known from the Barun Goyot and Nemegt formations of Mongolia.
Bagaceratops is a genus of small protoceratopsid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous, around 72 to 71 million years ago. Bagaceratops remains have been reported from the Barun Goyot Formation and Bayan Mandahu Formation. One specimen may argue the possible presence of Bagaceratops in the Djadochta Formation.
The Bayan Shireh Formation is a geological formation in Mongolia, that dates to the Cretaceous period. It was first described and established by Vasiliev et al. 1959.
Tylocephale is a genus of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur, a group of dome-headed, herbivorous ornithischians, that lived during the Late Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous in what is now Mongolia. It is known from a partial skull and associated mandible that were unearthed in 1971 by a Polish-Mongolian Expedition to the Barun Goyot Formation of the Gobi Desert. The specimen was described in 1974 by Polish paleontologists Teresa Maryańska and Halszka Osmólska as a new genus and species.
Hulsanpes is a genus of halszkaraptorine theropod dinosaurs that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Barun Goyot Formation of Mongolia, about 75-72 million years ago. The remains were found in 1970 and formally described in 1982 by Halszka Osmólska, who noted that the genus is represented by an immature individual. Hulsanpes represents the first record of the basal dromaeosaurid subfamily Halszkaraptorinae.
The Barun Goyot Formation is a geological formation dating to the Late Cretaceous Period. It is located within and is widely represented in the Gobi Desert Basin, in the Ömnögovi Province of Mongolia.
The Nemegt Formation is a geological formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, dating to the Late Cretaceous. The formation consists of river channel sediments and contains fossils of fish, turtles, crocodilians, and a diverse fauna of dinosaurs, including birds.
The Djadochta formation is a highly fossiliferous geological formation in Central Asia, Gobi Desert, dating from the Late Cretaceous period, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. The type locality is the Bayn Dzak locality, famously known as the Flaming Cliffs. Reptile and mammal remains are among the fossils recovered from the formation.
Halszka Osmólska was a Polish paleontologist who had specialized in Mongolian dinosaurs.
Minotaurasaurus is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived in Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Djadochta Formation. The type and only species, Minotaurasaurus ramachandrani, is known from two skulls, a cervical vertebra and a cervical half ring. It was named and described in 2009 by Clifford Miles and Clark Miles. The first fossils of Minotaurasaurus were illegally exported out of Mongolia.It has been suggested to be a synonym of Tarchia but more recent publications consider it as a distinct genus.
Ceratonykus is a monospecific genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur from Mongolia that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Barun Goyot Formation. The type and only species, Ceratonykus oculatus, is known from a fragmentary skeleton, including an incomplete skull, of an adult individual. It was named and described in 2009 by Vladimir Alifanov and Rinchen Barsbold. Its describers questioned the traditional placement of alvarezsaurs in Theropoda, instead suggesting they were ornithischians, but this has not been accepted since. Ceratonykus has an estimated length of 75 centimetres and weight of 760 grams. It has been considered as a possible junior synonym of Parvicursor.
Oksoko is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Asia, that lived in what is now the Nemegt Formation in Mongolia. It includes the type species Oksoko avarsan.
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.
Ondogurvel is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Barun Goyot Formation in southern Mongolia. The type and only species is O. alifanovi, known from a partial skeleton consisting of fragments of two last dorsal vertebrae, three anterior sacral vertebrae, right ilium, left and right pubis and ischium, articulated right tibia, fibula, metatarsals II and IV, and phalanges IV-1 and IV-2, right carpometacarpus, left and right manual phalanx II-1, right femur, left pedal phalanx II-1, and fragments of unidentified phalanges.
Natovenator is a genus of halszkaraptorine dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Barun Goyot Formation of Mongolia. The genus is known from a single species, N. polydontus. Natovenator is crucial to the understanding of halszkaraptorines due to it providing more support for the semi-aquatic lifestyle that has been proposed for this clade. This discovery is important as the semi-aquatic lifestyles of halszkaraptorines was contested in early 2022.
Jaculinykus is an extinct genus of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Baruungoyot Formation of Mongolia. The genus contains a single species, J. yaruui, known from a nearly complete articulated skeleton including bones of the skull. Jaculinykus is notable for its unique hand, which has a hypertrophied first digit and greatly reduced second digit, which is intermediate between the tridactyl hand of Shuvuuia and monodactyl hand of Linhenykus.