''Elmisaurus'' (meaning "foot sole lizard") is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

caenagnathid Caenagnathidae is a family of derived caenagnathoid dinosaurs from the Cretaceous of North America and Asia. They are a member of the Oviraptorosauria, and relatives of the Oviraptoridae. Like other oviraptorosaurs, caenagnathids had specialized ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

Nemegt Formation The Nemegt Formation (also known as Nemegtskaya Svita) is a geological formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, dating to the Late Cretaceous. The formation consists of river channel sediments and contains fossils of fish, turtles, crocodilians ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

. It was a

theropod Theropoda (; from ancient Greek , (''therion'') "wild beast"; , (''pous, podos'') "foot"">wiktionary:ποδός"> (''pous, podos'') "foot" is one of the three major groups (clades) of dinosaurs, alongside Ornithischia and Sauropodom ...

belonging to the

Oviraptorosauria Oviraptorosaurs ("egg thief lizards") are a group of feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period (geology), Period of what are now Asia and North America. They are distinct for their characteristically short, beaked, parrot-like s ...

Discovery

In 1970, a paleontological Polish-Mongolian expedition discovered two fragmentary specimens of a small theropod in the Ömnögovĭ province of

. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, ''Elmisaurus rarus'', was named and described by

Halszka Osmólska Halszka Osmólska (September 15, 1930 – March 31, 2008) was a Polish paleontologist who had specialized in Mongolian dinosaurs. Early life, family and education Osmólska was born in 1930 in Poznań. In 1949, she began to study biology at Fa ...

in 1981. The generic name is derived from

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

' or ', "foot sole", as the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

consisted of a

metatarsus The metatarsal bones or metatarsus (: metatarsi) are a group of five long bones in the midfoot, located between the tarsal bones (which form the heel and the ankle) and the phalanges ( toes). Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are ...

. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

means "rare" in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

, ZPAL MgD-I/172, consists of a left metatarsus fused with the tarsalia. There are two

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...

s: ZPAL MgD-I/98, consisting of a right hand and foot, and ZPAL MgD-I/20, the upper part of the left metatarsus of a larger individual.Osmólska, H. (1981). Coossified tarsometatarsi in theropod dinosaurs and their bearing on the problem of bird origins. ''Palaeontologica Polonica'' 42:79-95. In a 2001 study conducted by Bruce Rothschild and other paleontologists, 23 foot bones referred to ''Elmisaurus'' were examined for signs of

stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running ...

, but none were found.Rothschild, B., Tanke, D. H., and Ford, T. L., 2001, Theropod stress fractures and tendon avulsions as a clue to activity: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, p. 331-336. A second species, ''E. elegans'', was named in 1989 by Philip J. Currie.Currie, P.J. (1989). "The first records of ''Elmisaurus'' (Saurischia, Theropoda) from North America." ''Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences'' 26(6):1319-1324 This represented a North American form originally described as a species of ''

Ornithomimus ''Ornithomimus'' (; "bird mimic") is a genus of ornithomimid theropod dinosaurs from the Campanian and Maastrichtian ages of Late Cretaceous Western North America. ''Ornithomimus'' was a swift, bipedal dinosaur which fossil evidence indicates wa ...

'' by

William Arthur Parks William Arthur Parks (11 December 1868 – 3 October 1936) was a Canadian geologist and paleontologist, following in the tradition of Lawrence Lambe. Parks was born in Hamilton, Ontario. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1892, Parks ...

in 1933, based on specimen ROM 781, a foot.Parks, W.A. (1933). New species of dinosaurs and turtles from the Upper Cretaceous formations of Alberta. ''University of Toronto Studies, Geological Series'' 34:1-33. Currie also referred the material of the American form ''

Caenagnathus ''Caenagnathus'' ('recent jaw') is a genus of caenagnathid oviraptorosaurian dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period (Campanian stage; ~75 million years ago). It is known from partial remains including lower jaws, a tail vertebra, hand bones, ...

sternbergi'', based on a jaw fragment, to ''Elmisaurus elegans''. Due to their poor preservation and geographical distance from the type species, the classification of the American forms has been contentious. In 1997,

Hans-Dieter Sues Hans-Dieter Sues (born 1956) is a German-born American palaeontologist who is a Senior Research Geologist and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Career ...

stated that this supposed second species of ''Elmisaurus'' should be referred to ''

Chirostenotes ''Chirostenotes'' ( ; named from Ancient Greek, Greek 'narrow-handed') is a genus of oviraptorosaurian dinosaur from the late Cretaceous (about 76.5–75 million years ago) of Alberta, Canada. The type species is ''Chirostenotes pergracilis''. ...

'', as ''C. elegans'',Sues, H.-D. (1997). "On ''Chirostenotes'', a Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from western North America." ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' 17(4):698-716. though this position was not accepted by Currie. Other researchers, including

Teresa Maryańska Teresa Maryańska (1937 – 3 October 2019) was a Polish paleontologist who specialized in Mongolian dinosaurs, particularly pachycephalosaurians and ankylosaurians. She is considered not only as one of Poland's but also one of the world's leadin ...

, and their colleagues, followed Sues in reassigning ''E. elegans'' to ''Chirostenotes''.Maryanska, Osmolska and Wolsan, (2002). "Avialan status for Oviraptorosauria." ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'', 47(1): 97-116. In 2020, Gregory Funston assigned the material to the new genus and species ''

Citipes ''Citipes'' () is an extinct genus of caenagnathid theropod from the Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada. The genus contains only one species, the type species, ''C. elegans''. The generic name of ''Citipes'' is Latin (l ...

''. A 2021 article by Funston and colleagues suggested ''

Nomingia ''Nomingia'' is a genus of Oviraptorosauria, oviraptorosaur theropod dinosaur hailing from the Late Cretaceous Bugin Tsav Beds of Mongolia. Discovery and naming The remains, consisting of most of the vertebral column, pelvic girdle and left ...

'' is a synonym of ''Elmisaurus''.

Classification

The

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

below follows an analysis by Longrich ''et al''. in 2013, which found ''Elmisaurus'' to be a caenagnathid.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q133081 Caenagnathidae Dinosaur genera Maastrichtian dinosaurs Nemegt Formation Fossil taxa described in 1981 Taxa named by Halszka Osmólska Dinosaurs of Mongolia

Discovery

Classification

See also

References