1
|
Hattori S, Shibata M, Kawabe S, Imai T, Nishi H, Azuma Y. New theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Japan provides critical implications for the early evolution of ornithomimosaurs. Sci Rep 2023; 13:13842. [PMID: 37679444 PMCID: PMC10484975 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40804-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Ornithomimosauria consists of the ostrich-mimic dinosaurs, most of which showing cursorial adaptations, that often exhibit features indicative of herbivory. Recent discoveries have greatly improved our knowledge of their evolutionary history, including the divergence into Ornithomimidae and Deinocheiridae in the Early Cretaceous, but the early part of their history remains obscured because their fossil remains are scarce in the Aptian-Albian sediments. In recent years, many isolated ornithomimosaur remains have been recovered from the Aptian Kitadani Formation of Fukui, central Japan. These remains represent multiple individuals that share some morphological features common to them but unknown in other ornithomimosaurs, suggesting a monospecific accumulation of a new taxon. As a result of the description and phylogenetic analysis, the Kitadani ornithomimosaur is recovered as a new genus and species Tyrannomimus fukuiensis, the earliest definitive deinocheirid that complements our knowledge to understand the early evolutionary history of Ornithomimosauria. Due to its osteological similarity to Tyrannomimus, a taxon previously considered an early tyrannosauroid based on fragmentary specimens, namely Aviatyrannis jurassica, may represent the earliest ornithomimosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Europe, significantly expanding the temporal and biogeographic range of Ornithomimosauria. This finding fills a 20-million-year ghost lineage of Ornithomimosauria implied by the presence of the oldest fossil record of Maniraptora from the Middle Jurassic and is consistent with the hypothesis that their biogeographic range was widespread before the Pangaean breakup in the Kimmeridgian.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Soki Hattori
- Institute of Dinosaur Research, Fukui Prefectural University, 4-1-1 Matsuoka-kenjojima, Eiheiji, Fukui, 910-1195, Japan.
- Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, 51-11, Terao, Muroko, Katsuyama, Fukui, 911-8601, Japan.
| | - Masateru Shibata
- Institute of Dinosaur Research, Fukui Prefectural University, 4-1-1 Matsuoka-kenjojima, Eiheiji, Fukui, 910-1195, Japan
- Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, 51-11, Terao, Muroko, Katsuyama, Fukui, 911-8601, Japan
| | - Soichiro Kawabe
- Institute of Dinosaur Research, Fukui Prefectural University, 4-1-1 Matsuoka-kenjojima, Eiheiji, Fukui, 910-1195, Japan
- Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, 51-11, Terao, Muroko, Katsuyama, Fukui, 911-8601, Japan
| | - Takuya Imai
- Institute of Dinosaur Research, Fukui Prefectural University, 4-1-1 Matsuoka-kenjojima, Eiheiji, Fukui, 910-1195, Japan
- Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, 51-11, Terao, Muroko, Katsuyama, Fukui, 911-8601, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Nishi
- Institute of Dinosaur Research, Fukui Prefectural University, 4-1-1 Matsuoka-kenjojima, Eiheiji, Fukui, 910-1195, Japan
- Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, 51-11, Terao, Muroko, Katsuyama, Fukui, 911-8601, Japan
| | - Yoichi Azuma
- Institute of Dinosaur Research, Fukui Prefectural University, 4-1-1 Matsuoka-kenjojima, Eiheiji, Fukui, 910-1195, Japan
- Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, 51-11, Terao, Muroko, Katsuyama, Fukui, 911-8601, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Chamberlain, Jr JA, Knoll K, J. W. Sertich J. Non-avian theropod phalanges from the marine Fox Hills Formation (Maastrichtian), western South Dakota, USA. PeerJ 2023; 11:e14665. [PMID: 36778140 PMCID: PMC9912944 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
We report here the first dinosaur skeletal material described from the marine Fox Hills Formation (Maastrichtian) of western South Dakota. The find consists of two theropod pedal phalanges: one recovered from the middle part of the Fairpoint Member in Meade County, South Dakota; and the other from the Iron Lightning Member in Ziebach County, South Dakota. Comparison with pedal phalanges of other theropods suggests strongly that the Fairpoint specimen is a right pedal phalanx, possibly III-2, from a large ornithomimid. The Iron Lightning specimen we cautiously identify as an ornithomimid left pedal phalanx II-2. The Fairpoint bone comes from thinly bedded and cross-bedded marine sandstones containing large hematitic concretions and concretionary horizons. Associated fossils include osteichthyan teeth, fin spines and otoliths, and abundant teeth of common Cretaceous nearshore and pelagic chondrichthyans. Leaf impressions and other plant debris, blocks of fossilized wood, and Ophiomorpha burrows are also common. The Iron Lightning bone comes from a channel deposit composed of fine to coarse sandstone beds, some of which contain bivalves, and a disseminated assemblage of mammal teeth, chondrichthyan teeth, and fragmentary dinosaur teeth and claws. We interpret the depositional environment of the two specimens as marginal marine. The Fairpoint bone derives from a nearshore foreset setting, above wave base subject to tidal flux and storm activity. The Iron Lightning specimen comes from a topset channel infill probably related to deposition on a tidal flat or associated coastal setting. The taphonomic history and ages of the two bones differ. Orthogonal cracks in the cortical bone of the Fairpoint specimen suggest post-mortem desiccation in a dryland coastal setting prior to transport and preservation in the nearby nearshore setting described above. The pristine surface of the Iron Lightning specimen indicates little transport before incorporation into the channel deposit in which it was found. The Fairpoint bone bed most probably lies within the Hoploscaphites nicolletii Ammonite Zone of the early late Maastrichtian, and would therefore have an approximate age of 69 Ma. The Iron Lightning bone is from the overlying H. nebrascensis Ammonite Zone, and is thus about one million years younger.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- John A. Chamberlain, Jr
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Department of Biology, City University of New York, Graduate School and University Center, New York City, New York, United States,Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, City University of New York, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, United States
| | - Katja Knoll
- Paria River District, US Bureau of Land Management, Kanab, Utah, United States
| | - Joseph J. W. Sertich
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama,Department of Geosciences, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Farlow JO, Lallensack JN, Müller RT, Hyatt JA. Pedal Skeletal Proportions of Bipedal and Potentially Bipedal Dinosaurs and Other Archosaurs: Interpreting the Makers of Early Mesozoic Footprints. BULLETIN OF THE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 2022. [DOI: 10.3374/014.063.0201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jens N. Lallensack
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF United Kingdom
| | - Rodrigo T. Müller
- Centro de Apoio à Pesquisa Paleontológica da Quarta Colônia, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, São João do Polêsine RS 97230-000 Brazil
| | - James A. Hyatt
- Department of Environmental Earth Science, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT 06226 USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Doran Brownstein C. Dinosaurs from the Santonian-Campanian Atlantic coastline substantiate phylogenetic signatures of vicariance in Cretaceous North America. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:210127. [PMID: 34457333 PMCID: PMC8385347 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
During the Cretaceous, diversifications and turnovers affected terrestrial vertebrates experiencing the effects of global geographical change. However, the poor fossil record from the early Late Cretaceous has concealed how dinosaurs and other terrestrial vertebrates responded to these events. I describe two dinosaurs from the Santonian to Early Campanian of the obscure North American paleolandmass Appalachia. A revised look at a large, potentially novel theropod shows that it likely belongs to a new clade of tyrannosauroids solely from Appalachia. Another partial skeleton belongs to an early member of the Hadrosauridae, a highly successful clade of herbivorous dinosaurs. This skeleton is associated with the first small juvenile dinosaur specimens from the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The tyrannosauroid and hadrosaurid substantiate one of the only Late Santonian dinosaur faunas and help pinpoint the timing of important anatomical innovations in two widespread dinosaur lineages. The phylogenetic positions of the tyrannosauroid and hadrosaurid show Santonian Appalachian dinosaur faunas are comparable to coeval Eurasian ones, and the presence of clades formed only by Appalachian dinosaur taxa establishes a degree of endemism in Appalachian dinosaur assemblages attributable to episodes of vicariance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chase Doran Brownstein
- Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford, CT, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Rhodes MM, Henderson DM, Currie PJ. Maniraptoran pelvic musculature highlights evolutionary patterns in theropod locomotion on the line to birds. PeerJ 2021; 9:e10855. [PMID: 33717681 PMCID: PMC7937347 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Locomotion is a fundamental aspect of palaeobiology and often investigated by comparing osteological structures and proportions. Previous studies document a stepwise accumulation of avian-like features in theropod dinosaurs that accelerates in the clade Maniraptora. However, the soft tissues that influenced the skeleton offer another perspective on locomotory adaptations. Examination of the pelvis for osteological correlates of hind limb and tail musculature allowed reconstruction of primary locomotory muscles across theropods and their closest extant relatives. Additionally, the areas of pelvic muscle origins were quantified to measure relative differences within and between taxa, to compare morphological features associated with cursoriality, and offer insight into the evolution of locomotor modules. Locomotory inferences based on myology often corroborate those based on osteology, although they occasionally conflict and indicate greater complexity than previously appreciated. Maniraptoran pelvic musculature underscores previous studies noting the multifaceted nature of cursoriality and suggests that a more punctuated step in caudal decoupling occurred at or near the base of Maniraptora.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew M Rhodes
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | | | - Philip J Currie
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Yun CG. Corrections and comments on the taxonomic value of anatomical features of tyrannosaurid theropods. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2020; 303:2788-2791. [PMID: 32445536 DOI: 10.1002/ar.24458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2019] [Revised: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Chan-Gyu Yun
- Vertebrate Paleontological Institute of Incheon, Incheon, Republic of Korea.,Biological Sciences, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea
| |
Collapse
|