Uteodon

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Uteodon
Temporal range: Late Jurassic,
~153–148  Ma
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Camptosaurus aphanoecetes - IMG 0673.jpg
Skeleton at the Carnegie Museum
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Clade: Ankylopollexia
Clade: Styracosterna
Genus: Uteodon
McDonald, 2011
Species:
U. aphanoecetes
Binomial name
Uteodon aphanoecetes
(Carpenter & Wilson, 2008)
Synonyms

Uteodon (meaning "Ute tooth") is a genus of herbivorous iguanodontian dinosaur. It is a basal iguanodontian which lived during the late Jurassic period (Tithonian age) in what is now Uintah County, Utah. It is known from the middle of the Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation. The genus was named by Andrew T. McDonald in 2011 and the type species is U. aphanoecetes. [1]

Contents

History

The holotype specimen, CM 11337 (a virtually complete skeleton minus the skull and tail), was assigned to Camptosaurus medius (Marsh, 1894 [2] ) by Charles W. Gilmore in 1925. [3] When C. medius was synonymised with Camptosaurus dispar in 1980, [4] the holotype was seen to probably represent a new, then unnamed, species of Camptosaurus. [5] The species Camptosaurus aphanoecetes was first described in 2008 by Carpenter and Wilson. [6] In 2011, it was assigned to the new genus Uteodon. [1] In 2015, the Uteodon braincase was referred to Dryosaurus, and Uteodon and Cumnoria were synonymized with Camptosaurus, as C. aphanoectes and C. prestwichii, respectively. [7]

Description

Size comparison based on Hartman (2013) Uteodon Scale.svg
Size comparison based on Hartman (2013)

Based on the holotype and the related genus Camptosaurus , when fully grown, Uteodon would have grown up to around 6 metres (20 ft) long and would probably have weighed no more than around 400 kilograms (880 lb), [4] [1] although according to Hartman (2013), Uteodon could have been as small as around 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) long. [8]

Paleoecology

Provenance and occurrence

The single known specimen of Uteodon, CM 11337, was found in the Dry Mesa Quarry/Douglass Quarry of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation, Utah. [3] The rocks it was found in were medium-grained, coarse sandstone that was deposited during the Tithonian and Kimmeridgian stages of the Late Jurassic period, approximately 153 to 148 million years ago. [9]

Fauna and habitat

Studies suggest that the paleoenvironment of this section of the Morrison Formation included rivers that flowed from the west into a basin that contained a giant, saline alkaline lake and there were extensive wetlands in the vicinity. The Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry of western Colorado yields one of the most diverse Upper Jurassic vertebrate assemblages in the world. [10] The Dry Mesa Quarry has produced the remains of the sauropods Apatosaurus , Diplodocus , Barosaurus , Supersaurus , and Camarasaurus , the iguanodonts Camptosaurus and Dryosaurus , and the theropods Allosaurus , Torvosaurus . Tanycolagreus , Koparion , Stokesosaurus , Ceratosaurus , and Ornitholestes , as well as Nanosaurus , Gargoyleosaurus , and Stegosaurus . [11]

The flora of the period has been revealed by fossils of green algae, fungi, mosses, horsetails, ferns, cycads, ginkgoes, and several families of conifers. Animal fossils discovered include bivalves, snails, ray-finned fishes, frogs, salamanders, amphibians, turtles, sphenodonts, lizards, terrestrial (like Hoplosuchus ) and aquatic crocodylomorphans, cotylosaurs, several species of pterosaurs like Harpactognathus , and early mammals, multituberculates, symmetrodonts, and triconodonts. [11]

Related Research Articles

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

Dryosaurus is a genus of an ornithopod dinosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic period. It was an iguanodont. Fossils have been found in the western United States and were first discovered in the late 19th century. Valdosaurus canaliculatus and Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki were both formerly considered to represent species of Dryosaurus.

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

Camptosaurus is a genus of plant-eating, beaked ornithischian dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic period of western North America and possibly also Europe. The name means 'flexible lizard'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Como Bluff</span> United States historic place

Como Bluff is a long ridge extending east–west, located between the towns of Rock River and Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The ridge is an anticline, formed as a result of compressional geological folding. Three geological formations, the Sundance, the Morrison, and the Cloverly Formations, containing fossil remains from the Late Jurassic of the Mesozoic Era are exposed.

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

Iguanodontia is a clade of herbivorous dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. Some members include Camptosaurus, Dryosaurus, Iguanodon, Tenontosaurus, and the hadrosaurids or "duck-billed dinosaurs". Iguanodontians were one of the first groups of dinosaurs to be found. They are among the best known of the dinosaurs, and were among the most diverse and widespread herbivorous dinosaur groups of the Cretaceous period.

<i>Saurophaganax</i> Allosaurid theropod dinosaur genus from Late Jurassic period

Saurophaganax is a genus of large allosaurid dinosaur from the Morrison Formation of Late Jurassic Oklahoma, United States. Some paleontologists consider it to be a junior synonym and species of Allosaurus. Saurophaganax represents a very large Morrison allosaurid characterized by horizontal laminae at the bases of the dorsal neural spines above the transverse processes, and "meat-chopper" chevrons. It was the largest terrestrial carnivore of North America during the Late Jurassic, reaching 10.5 metres (34 ft) in length and 2.7–3.8 metric tons in body mass.

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

Stokesosaurus is a genus of small, carnivorous early tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaurs from the late Jurassic period of Utah, United States.

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

Cumnoria is a genus of herbivorous iguanodontian dinosaur. It was a basal iguanodontian that lived during the Late Jurassic period in what is now Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.

Planicoxa is a genus of advanced iguanodontian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of North America. It is known from the partial skeletons of several individual specimens. Its fossils were discovered in Utah, United States.

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

Laosaurus is a genus of neornithischian dinosaur. The type species, Laosaurus celer, was first described by O.C. Marsh in 1878 from remains from the Oxfordian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming. The validity of this genus is doubtful because it is based on fragmentary fossils. A second species from the Morrison Formation, L. gracilis, and a species from the late Cretaceous Allison Formation of Alberta, Canada, Laosaurus minimus, are also considered dubious.

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

Nanosaurus is the name given to a genus of neornithischian dinosaur that lived about 155 to 148 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic-age. Its fossils are known from the Morrison Formation of the south-western United States. The type and only species, Nanosaurus agilis, was described and named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877. The taxon has a complicated taxonomic history, largely the work of Marsh and Peter M. Galton, involving the genera Laosaurus, Hallopus, Drinker, Othnielia, and Othnielosaurus, the latter three now being considered to be synonyms of Nanosaurus. It had historically been classified as a hypsilophodont or fabrosaur, types of generalized small bipedal herbivore, but more recent research has abandoned these groupings as paraphyletic and Nanosaurus is today considered a basal member of Neornithischia.

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

Marshosaurus is a genus of medium-sized carnivorous theropod dinosaur, belonging to the Megalosauroidea, from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of Utah and possibly Colorado.

Mesadactylus is an extinct genus of pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Colorado, United States. The genus was named in 1989 by James Jensen and Kevin Padian. The type species is Mesadactylus ornithosphyos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dry Mesa Quarry</span>

The Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry is situated in southwestern Colorado, United States, near the town of Delta. Its geology forms a part of the Morrison Formation and has famously yielded a great diversity of animal remains from the Jurassic Period, among them Ceratosaurus, Supersaurus, and Torvosaurus. The quarry is found within the Uncompahgre National Forest.

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

Theiophytalia is a genus of herbivorous iguanodontian dinosaur from the lower Cretaceous period of Colorado, USA. It contains a single species, T. kerri.

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

Dryosaurids were primitive iguanodonts. They are known from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous rocks of Africa, Europe, and North America.

<i>Camarasaurus lentus</i> Species of sauropod

Camarasaurus lentus is an extinct species of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Jurassic period in what is now the western United States. It is one of the four valid species of the well-known genus Camarasaurus. C. lentus fossils have been found in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. It is the species of Camarasaurus found in Dinosaur National Monument and the middle layers of the Morrison Formation. Camarasaurus lentus is among the best-known sauropod species, with many specimens known. A juvenile specimen of C. lentus, CM 11338, is the most complete sauropod fossil ever discovered.

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

Owenodon is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur known from a partial lower jaw discovered in Early Cretaceous-age rocks of Durlston Bay, Dorset, United Kingdom. The specimen, NHM R2998, comes from the Purbeck Limestone, dating to the middle Berriasian stage. It was first described by Richard Owen, who in 1874 assigned it to Iguanodon as the type specimen of the new species I. hoggii, the specific name honouring naturalist A.J. Hogg who had originally collected the fossil in 1860. The bone was damaged during initial preparation but was freed from the surrounding rock matrix by an acid bath between 1975 and 1977. David Norman and Paul Barrett subsequently transferred the species to Camptosaurus in 2002, but this was challenged, and in 2009 Peter Galton assigned the species to the new genus Owenodon, meaning "Owen's tooth", named after Sir Richard Owen. Galton interpreted the genus as an iguanodontoid more derived than Camptosaurus but less derived than Lurdusaurus.

Osmakasaurus is a genus of herbivorous iguanodontian dinosaur. It is a basal iguanodontian which lived during the Early Cretaceous period in what is now Buffalo Gap of South Dakota, United States. It is known from the Chilson Member of the Lakota Formation. This genus was named by Andrew T. McDonald in 2011 and the type species is O. depressus.

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

Ankylopollexia is an extinct clade of ornithischian dinosaurs that lived from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous. It is a derived clade of iguanodontian ornithopods and contains the subgroup Styracosterna. The name stems from the Greek word, “ankylos”, mistakenly taken to mean stiff, fused, and the Latin word, “pollex”, meaning thumb. Originally described in 1986 by Sereno, a most likely synapomorphic feature of a conical thumb spine defines the clade.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Andrew T. McDonald (2011). "The taxonomy of species assigned to Camptosaurus (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2783: 52–68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2783.1.4.
  2. Marsh, O, C. (1894). The typical Ornithopoda of the American Jurassic. American Journal of Science, 48, 85–90.
  3. 1 2 Gilmore, C.W. (1925). "Osteology of ornithopodous dinosaurs from the Dinosaur National Monument, Utah". Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum. 10: 385–410.
  4. 1 2 G.S. Paul (2010) " The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs ". (Page 284).
  5. Dodson, P. (1980). Comparative osteology of the American ornithopods Camptosaurus and Tenontosaurus . Mémoires de la Société géologique de France 139:81–85.
  6. Carpenter, K.; Wilson, Y. (2008). "A New Species of Camptosaurus (Ornithopoda: Dinosauria) from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, and a Biomechanical Analysis of Its Forelimb". Annals of Carnegie Museum. 76 (4): 227. doi:10.2992/0097-4463(2008)76[227:ANSOCO]2.0.CO;2.
  7. Carpenter, Kenneth; Lamanna, Matthew C. (2015). "The Braincase Assigned to the Ornithopod Dinosaur Uteodon McDonald, 2011, Reassigned to Dryosaurus Marsh, 1894: Implications for Iguanodontian Morphology and Taxonomy". Annals of Carnegie Museum. 83 (2): 149–165. doi:10.2992/007.083.0201. ISSN   0097-4463.
  8. 1 2 "Uteodon skeletal reconstruction (2013)". Dr. Scott Hartman's Skeletal Drawing. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  9. Jensen, J. A. and Ostrom, J. H. (1977). A second Jurassic pterosaur from North America. Journal of Paleontology 51(4):867–870
  10. Richmond, D.R. and Morris, T.H., (1999), Stratigraphy and cataclysmic deposition of the Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry, Mesa County, Colorado, in Carpenter, K., Kirkland, J., and Chure, D., eds., The Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation: An Interdisciplinary Study, Modern Geology v. 22, no. 1-4, pp. 121–143.
  11. 1 2 Chure, Daniel J.; Litwin, Ron; Hasiotis, Stephen T.; Evanoff, Emmett; Carpenter, Kenneth (2006). "The fauna and flora of the Morrison Formation: 2006". In Foster, John R.; Lucas, Spencer G. (eds.). Paleontology and Geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 36. Albuquerque, New Mexico: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. pp. 233–248.