Siamraptor

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Siamraptor
Temporal range: Aptian
~120–112  Ma
Siamraptor-human size comparison.png
Skeletal reconstruction and size comparison of Siamraptor suwati
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Allosauria
Clade: Carcharodontosauria
Genus: Siamraptor
Chokchaloemwong et al., 2019
Species:
S. suwati
Binomial name
Siamraptor suwati
Chokchaloemwong et al., 2019

Siamraptor is an extinct genus of carcharodontosaurian dinosaur, containing the single species S. suwati, known from the Khok Kruat Formation of Thailand. It is possibly the first definitive named carcharodontosaurian species known from Southeast Asia. [1] [2] However a later 2024 study found it to be an early tetanuran outside of the group Orionides, [3] although the describers of Alpkarakush still found it within the Carcharodontosauria the same year. [4]

Contents

Discovery

Life reconstruction Siamraptor reconstruction 2019 (Mario Lanzas).jpg
Life reconstruction

Between 2007 and 2009, the Japan-Thailand Dinosaur Project carried out excavations at the village of Saphan Hin, subdistrict Suranaree, Mueang Nakhon Ratchasima District, in Nakhon Ratchasima Province. The finds included bones from a theropod new to science. [1]

In 2019, the type species Siamraptor suwati was named and described by Duangsuda Chokchaloemwon, Soki Hattori, Elena Cuesta, Pratueng Jintasakul, Masateru Shibata and Yoichi Azuma. The generic name is derived from "Siam", the former name of Thailand, and the Latin word raptor ("robber"). The specific name honours Suwat Liptapanlop, who supported the Northeastern Research Institute of Petrified Wood and Mineral Resources. [1]

The holotype, NRRU-F01020008, was found in a layer of the Khok Kruat Formation dating from the Aptian. It consists of a rear right lower jaw including the surangular, prearticular and articular. Further material referred to S. suwati includes the isolated remains of at least three individuals, mostly consisting of skull and lower jaw fragments as well as a manual ungual, a series of three cervical vertebrae, two partial ischia, a caudal vertebra, two dorsal vertebral centra and a neural spine, a partial tibia and a left pedal phalanx. [1]

Description

The describing authors indicated some distinguishing traits. These are autapomorphies, unique derived characters, relative to the Allosauroidea. The jugal bone has a lower edge that is straight instead of convex or undulating while the front branch is high, even under the eye socket. The surangular bone has a deep oval excavation to the rear of its bone shelf and four rear surangular foramina, while other theropods possess at most two. A long narrow groove runs along the suture between the surangular and the prearticular bone. The notch in the suture between the articular and prearticular is pierced by a foramen. The front neck vertebrae possess an additional pneumatic foramen excavating the parapophysis, the lower rib contact. The neck vertebrae and rear back vertebrae have paired small foramina in the base of the neural spine. [1]

Classification

Siamraptor has generally been recovered as a member of Carcharodontosauria. [1] In his 2024 review of theropod relationships, Cau recovered it as a tetanuran outside of the Orionides, as a close relative of Siamotyrannus . [3] Later the same year, the describers of Alpkarakush recovered Siamraptor as a carcharodontosaurian once again. [4]

In the description of the carcharodontosaurid Tameryraptor by Kellermann, Cuesta & Rauhut (2025), Siamoraptor was recovered in analyses as the sister taxa to the European carcharodontosaur Concavenator , both plotting either within Metriacanthosauridae or as early diverging carcharodontosaurians. The results of the phylogeny are presented below. [5]

Metriacanthosauridae

Related Research Articles

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

Carcharodontosauridae is a group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. In 1931, Ernst Stromer named Carcharodontosauridae as a family, which, in modern paleontology, indicates a clade within Carnosauria. Carcharodontosaurids include some of the largest land predators ever known: Giganotosaurus, Mapusaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and Tyrannotitan all rivaled Tyrannosaurus in size. Estimates give a maximum weight of 8–10 metric tons for the largest carcharodontosaurids, while the smallest carcharodontosaurids were estimated to have weighed at least 500 kilograms (1,100 lb).

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

Allosauridae is an extinct family of medium to large bipedal, carnivorous allosauroid theropod dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic. Allosauridae is a fairly old taxonomic group, having been first named by the American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878.

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

Monolophosaurus is an extinct genus of tetanuran theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Shishugou Formation in what is now Xinjiang, China. It was named for the single crest on top of its skull. Monolophosaurus was a mid-sized theropod at about 5–5.5 metres (16–18 ft) long and weighed 475 kilograms (1,047 lb).

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

Siamotyrannus is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the early Cretaceous of Thailand.

<i>Siamosaurus</i> Potentially dubious genus of spinosaurid theropod dinosaur

Siamosaurus is a potentially dubious genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what is now known as China and Thailand during the Early Cretaceous period and is the first reported spinosaurid from Asia. It is confidently known only from tooth fossils; the first were found in the Sao Khua Formation, with more teeth later recovered from the younger Khok Kruat Formation. The only species Siamosaurus suteethorni, whose name honours Thai palaeontologist Varavudh Suteethorn, was formally described in 1986. In 2009, four teeth from China previously attributed to a pliosaur—under the species "Sinopliosaurus" fusuiensis—were identified as those of a spinosaurid, possibly Siamosaurus. It is yet to be determined if two partial spinosaurid skeletons from Thailand and an isolated tooth from Japan also belong to Siamosaurus.

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

Metriacanthosauridae is an extinct family of allosauroid theropod dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. The family is split into two subgroups: Metriacanthosaurinae, which includes dinosaurs closely related to Metriacanthosaurus, and another group composed of the close relatives of Yangchuanosaurus. Metriacanthosaurids are considered carnosaurs, belonging to the Allosauroidea superfamily. The group includes species of large range in body size. Of their physical traits, most notable are their neural spines. The records of the group are mostly confined to Asia, though Metriacanthosaurus is known from Europe. Metriacanthosauridae is used as a senior synonym of Sinraptoridae.

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

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

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The Khok Kruat Formation is a rock formation found in northeastern Thailand. It is the uppermost formation of the Khorat Group. It is dated to the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous period, and is notable for its fossils of dinosaurs. It is equivalent to the Gres superieurs Formation of Laos. The group is a fluvial formation consisting primarily of red siltstones and sandstones.

<i>Veterupristisaurus</i> Genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suwat Liptapanlop</span>

Suwat Liptapanlop is a Thai entrepreneur, politician and sports official based in Nakhon Ratchasima. He has held different cabinet posts in several governments since 1988, including deputy prime minister, and is the de facto leader of the Chart Pattana Party while his brother Tewan Liptapallop serves as its official leader.

<i>Ichthyovenator</i> Genus of dinosaur

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

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<i>Tameryraptor</i> Genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaurs

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chokchaloemwong, Duangsuda; Hattori, Soki; Cuesta, Elena; Jintasakul, Pratueng; Shibata, Masateru; Azuma, Yoichi (2019-10-09). Liu, Jun (ed.). "A new carcharodontosaurian theropod (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Lower Cretaceous of Thailand". PLOS ONE. 14 (10): e0222489. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1422489C. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222489 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   6784982 . PMID   31596853.
  2. "Meet Siamraptor suwati, a new species of giant predatory dinosaur from Thailand". EurekAlert! . 9 October 2019. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  3. 1 2 Cau, Andrea (2024). "A Unified Framework for Predatory Dinosaur Macroevolution" (PDF). Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana. 63 (1): 1-19. doi:10.4435/BSPI.2024.08 (inactive 2024-11-20). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-04-27. Retrieved 2024-05-02.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  4. 1 2 Rauhut, Oliver W M; Bakirov, Aizek A; Wings, Oliver; Fernandes, Alexandra E; Hübner, Tom R (2024-08-01). "A new theropod dinosaur from the Callovian Balabansai Formation of Kyrgyzstan". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 201 (4). doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae090 . ISSN   0024-4082.
  5. Kellermann, Maximilian; Cuesta, Elena; Rauhut, Oliver W. M. (2025-01-14). "Re-evaluation of the Bahariya Formation carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and its implications for allosauroid phylogeny". PLOS One . 20 (1): e0311096. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311096 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   11731741 . PMID   39808629.