Ulughbegsaurus

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Ulughbegsaurus
Temporal range: Turonian, 92–90  Ma
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Ulughbegsaurus.jpg.webp
Holotype specimen, showing initial interpretation as a carcharodontosaurian maxilla
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Avetheropoda
Genus: Ulughbegsaurus
Tanaka et al., 2021
Type species
Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis
Tanaka et al., 2021

Ulughbegsaurus (meaning "Ulugh Beg's lizard") is a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous aged Bissekty Formation, Uzbekistan. [1] The type species is Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis. [2]

Discovery and naming

Ulughbegsaurus was initially discovered within the Bissekty Formation, Uzbekistan in the 1980s based on the holotype UzSGM 11-01-02, consisting of a partial left maxilla. The holotype, despite its significance, would remain in the collection of the State Geological Museum of the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Geology and Mineral Resources, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, until 2019, when it was rediscovered. Two additional referred specimens have been attributed to the genus, including CCMGE 600/12457, an jugal ramus of a left maxilla that was previously referred to the dromaeosaurid Itemirus and ZIN PH 357/16, the posterior end of a right maxilla. [2]

Isolated teeth from the Bissekty Formation show similarities with carcharodontosaurian morphology, suggesting they may belong to Ulughbegsaurus or possibly another genus of carcharodontosaurian. [2]

The genus and species was later named in 2021 by Tanaka et al., honouring the 15th century Timurid sultan and scientist Ulugh Beg and the country of its discovery. [1] [2]

Description

The body length of Ulughbegsaurus is estimated at 7.5–8 metres (25–26 ft) and its body mass at over 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb). [2]

Classification

Tanaka et al. ran two phylogenetic analyses using two different datasets to determine the relationships of Ulughbegsaurus. The first placed it in a polytomy including Neovenator and other megaraptorans, while the second placed it in a polytomy including other basal carcharodontosaurians; megaraptorans were instead recovered as members of the Tyrannosauroidea.

Both analyses are shown below: [2]

However, a later 2022 study suggested that the taxon was a nomen dubium due to lacking diagnostic features, and that it was plausible that the maxilla fragment originated from a dromaeosaurid instead. [3]

Paleoecology

Ulughbegsaurus coexisted in the Bissekty Formation environment alongside other carnivorous theropods, including the tyrannosauroid Timurlengia and the dromaeosaurid Itemirus . [2] [4]

Related Research Articles

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

Neovenator is a genus of carcharodontosaurian theropod dinosaur. It is known from several skeletons found in the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian-Barremian) Wessex Formation on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, southern England. It is one of the best known theropod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of Europe.

<i>Achillobator</i> Extinct dromaeosaurid genus from the Late Cretaceous

Achillobator is a genus of large dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period about 96 million to 89 million years ago in what is now the Bayan Shireh Formation of Mongolia. The genus is currently monotypic, only including the type species A. giganticus. The first remains were found in 1989 during a Mongolian-Russian field expedition and later described in 1999. Remains at the type locality of Achillobator may represent additional specimens. It represents the first and largest dromaeosaurid known from the Bayan Shireh Formation.

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

Eotyrannus is a genus of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaur hailing from the Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation beds, included in Wealden Group, located in the southwest coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The remains (MIWG1997.550), consisting of assorted skull, axial skeleton and appendicular skeleton elements, from a juvenile or subadult, found in a plant debris clay bed, were described by Hutt et al. in early 2001. The etymology of the generic name refers to the animal's classification as an early tyrannosaur or "tyrant lizard", while the specific name honors the discoverer of the fossil.

Asiamericana is a dubious genus of coelurosaur known only from isolated teeth found in the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekhistan. It was named to recognize the occurrence of similar fossil teeth in Central Asia and North America. These regions once formed a connected land mass, during the Cretaceous period.

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

Itemirus is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Turonian age of the Late Cretaceous period of Uzbekistan.

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

Ekrixinatosaurus is a genus of abelisaurid theropod which lived approximately 100 to 97 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. Its fossils have been found in Argentina. Only one species is currently recognized, Ekrixinatosaurus novasi, from which the specific name honors of Dr. Fernando Novas for his contributions to the study of abelisaurid theropods, while the genus name refers to the dynamiting of the holotype specimen. It was a large abelisaur, measuring between 6.5 and 8 m in length and weighing 800 kg (1,800 lb).

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

Graciliraptor is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the early Cretaceous Period. It is a microraptorine dromaeosaurid.

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

Sinocalliopteryx is a genus of carnivorous compsognathid theropod dinosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China.

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

Orkoraptor is a genus of medium-sized megaraptoran theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of Argentina. It is known from incomplete fossil remains including parts of the skull, teeth, tail vertebrae, and a partial tibia. The specialized teeth resemble those of some maniraptoriform theropods, namely the deinonychosaurs and compsognathids. This and other anatomical features led the authors who described it to suggest that it was a maniraptoran coelurosaur. However, subsequent studies found it to be a megaraptoran. Found in the Cerro Fortaleza Formation of Southern Patagonia, it is one of the southernmost carnivorous dinosaurs known from South America.

The Bissekty Formation is a geologic formation and Lagerstätte which crops out in the Kyzyl Kum desert of Uzbekistan, and dates to the Late Cretaceous Period. Laid down in the mid to late Turonian, it is dated to about 92 to 90 Ma.

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

Sinotyrannus is a genus of large basal tyrannosauroid dinosaur, known from a single incomplete fossil specimen including a partial skull, from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning, China. Specifically, it is a member of the Proceratosauridae, a family that originated in the Jurassic whose members are known from Europe and Asia. Though it is not significantly younger than primitive tyrannosauroids such as Dilong, it is similar in size to later forms such as Tyrannosaurus. It was much larger than contemporary tyrannosauroids, reaching a total estimated length of 9–10 m (30–33 ft), and was the largest known theropod from the Jiufotang Formation. The type species, S. kazuoensis, was described by Ji et al. in 2009.

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

Megaraptora is a clade of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. Its derived members, the Megaraptoridae are noted for their large hand claws and powerfully-built forelimbs, which are usually reduced in size in other large theropods.

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

Teratophoneus is a genus of tyrannosaurine theropod dinosaur that lived during the late Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, in what is now Utah. It contains a single known species, T. curriei. It is known from an incomplete skull and postcranial skeleton recovered from the Kaiparowits Formation and was specifically named T. curriei in honor of famed paleontologist Philip J. Currie.

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

Timurlengia is an extinct genus of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaur found in Uzbekistan, in the Bissekty Formation in the Kyzylkum Desert, hailing from the Turonian age of the early Late Cretaceous. The type species is Timurlengia euotica.

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

Rativates is a genus of ornithomimid theropod dinosaur from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta. The type species is Rativates evadens.

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

Tratayenia is an extinct genus of megaraptoran theropod dinosaurs known from remains found in the Santonian-age Bajo de la Carpa Formation of Argentina. The type and only species, Tratayenia rosalesi, was described in March 2018.

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

Kansaignathus is an extinct genus of dromaeosaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous Yalovach Formation of Tajikistan. The genus contains only one species, the type species, K. sogdianus. The generic name of Kansaignathus comes from near the town of Konsoy where it was discovered and the Greek word "gnathos" meaning "jaw". The specific epithet "sogdianus" is derived from the historical region of Sogdiana, which was an ancient name for the Fergana Valley region where the fossil was discovered. Kansaignathus is known from a single right dentary bone and a few post-cranial bone fragments. It was the first, and so far the only, dinosaur from Tajikistan to be described and named.

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.

Dzharaonyx is a genus of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. The type species is Dzharaonyx eski; eski being an Uzbek word for "old".

<i>Maip</i> Genus of megaraptoran dinosaurs

Maip is a genus of large megaraptorid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Chorrillo Formation of Santa Cruz, Argentina. The genus contains a single species, M. macrothorax, known from an incomplete, disarticulated skeleton. Maip may represent the largest megaraptorid known from South America, and possibly the world.

References

  1. 1 2 Rieger, Sarah (7 September 2021). "Newly discovered dinosaur predated tyrannosaurs — and at the time was a bigger apex predator". CBC News. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tanaka K, Anvarov OU, Zelenitsky DK, Ahmedshaev AS, Kobayashi Y (2021). "A new carcharodontosaurian theropod dinosaur occupies apex predator niche in the early Late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan". Royal Society Open Science. 8 (9): Article ID 210923. Bibcode:2021RSOS....810923T. doi: 10.1098/rsos.210923 . PMC   8424376 . PMID   34527277.
  3. Sues, Hans-Dieter; Averianov, Alexander; Britt, Brooks B. (2022-12-22). "A giant dromaeosaurid theropod from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan and the status of Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis". Geological Magazine. 160 (2): 355–360. doi:10.1017/S0016756822000954. ISSN   0016-7568.
  4. Black, Riley. "New, Giant Carnivorous Dinosaur Was a Terror to Smaller Tyrannosaurs". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2021-09-08.