Paleontologists in Mongolia have unearthed a nearly complete and articulated skeleton of a previously unknown genus and species of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived more than 72 million years ago. Notably, the preserved posture of this specimen exhibited a stereotypical bird-like sleeping position.
The newly-discovered dinosaur roamed our planet during the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous epoch, between 84 and 72 million years ago.
Dubbed Jaculinykus yaruui, the species was a type of alvarezsaurid, a group of early maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs that were distributed globally from the Late Jurassic to the latest Cretaceous.
“Alvarezsauria is a group of bizarre maniraptoran theropods whose latest-branching members possess remarkably avian homoplasies,” said Hokkaido University paleontologist Kohta Kubo and colleagues.
“The fossil record of alvarezsaurs is globally widespread but known mostly from either Asia or South America.”
“Especially, fossil remains of late-branching alvarezsaurids are abundant in the Nemegt Basin of Mongolia and eight genera have been documented so far.”
“Despite the recent increase in the fossil record of alvarezsaurids, a detailed anatomy of the members is still limited due in parts that most of the fossil remains are fragmentary.”
“This often leads to difficulty in interpreting of their ecology and poorly resolved phylogenetic interrelationships.”
“Jaculinykus yaruui belongs to the sub-clade of Alvarezsauridae, Parvicursorinae, and forms a mononphyletic group with Mononykus and Shuvuuia.”
The nearly complete skeleton of Jaculinykus yaruui — with a skull, missing some cranial elements — was unearthed at the Nemegt locality of the Nemegt Basin in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.
The specimen was collected from the upper section of the Baruungoyot (or Barun Goyot) Formation.
It is housed in the Institute of Paleontology of Mongolian Academy of Sciences in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
“Jaculinykus…
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