Harenadraco prima is the primary species of troodontid dinosaur ever discovered within the Late Cretaceous Baruungoyot Formation of Mongolia.
Life reconstruction of Harenadraco prima. Picture credit score: Yusik Choi.
Harenadraco prima lived in what’s now Mongolia in the course of the Late Cretaceous epoch, between 72 and 71 million years in the past.
The brand new species belongs to Troodontidae, a bunch of bird-like theropod dinosaurs recognized from the Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous epoch.
“Troodontids are a various group of theropod dinosaurs, usually characterised by massive orbits, lengthy hind limbs with asymmetrical metatarsi, and an enlarged ungual on the second pedal digit in addition to many bird-like options,” mentioned Seoul Nationwide College paleontologist Sungjin Lee and colleagues.
“They’ve been discovered within the sedimentary deposits that vary from the Late Jurassic to the newest Cretaceous of Asia and North America.”
Harenadraco prima was a small-sized troodontid roughly 1 m (3.3 ft) in size.
“Harenadraco prima was small and evenly constructed like different species of troodontid dinosaurs, however its tarsometatarsus displays excessive slenderness comparable solely to Philovenator amongst cursorial non-avian maniraptorans,” the paleontologists mentioned.
“It additionally implies excessive cursoriality that may very well be an adaptation of Harenadraco prima to its setting the place potential prey animals like mammals and predators equivalent to eudromaeosaurs have been prone to be agile.”
Harenadraco prima’s incomplete skeleton that primarily consisted of left hindlimb parts was unearthed within the Baruungoyot Formation at Hermiin Tsav within the Mongolian province of Ömnögovi.
“The Higher Cretaceous beds within the Gobi Desert have been a wealthy supply of many troodontid species, particularly the Nemegt and Djadochta formations within the Nemegt Basin, Mongolia in addition to the Wulansuhai Formation in Bayan Mandahu, China,” the researchers mentioned.
“From the previous, eight troodontid species are presently recognized.”
“The Baruungoyot Formation, nevertheless, has been a puzzling exception as a result of no troodontids have been discovered regardless that it is among the main sedimentary formations within the Nemegt Basin and interpreted to be intermediate to the Djadochta and Nemegt formations when it comes to age and/or setting.”
“Because the faunal compositions of the Djadochta and Baruungoyot formations are very related, the absence of troodontids within the latter is much more puzzling.”
The invention of Harenadraco prima confirms the presence of troodontids in all three formations within the Nemegt Basin.
“With the invention of Harenadraco prima, it’s now obvious that the ‘hole’ within the troodontid file was a sampling artifact,” the scientists concluded.
“The delicate nature of the holotype of Harenadraco prima additional helps this.”
“The presence of Harenadraco prima within the Baruungoyot Formation additionally demonstrates that troodontids of the Nemegt Basin have been various sufficient to adapt to numerous environments.”
The group’s work was printed within the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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Sungjin Lee et al. The primary troodontid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Higher Cretaceous Baruungoyot Formation of Mongolia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, printed on-line July 15, 2024; doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2364746
