''Shri'' (named after

Palden Lhamo Palden Lhamo ("Glorious Goddess",Volkmann, Rosemarie: "Female Stereotypes in Tibetan Religion and Art: the Genetrix/Progenitress as the Exponent of the Underworld" ''in'' , sa, Śrīdēvī, mn, Ukin Tengri) or RematiDowman, Keith. (1988). ''T ...

, a Buddhist deity) is a genus of

dromaeosaurid Dromaeosauridae () is a family of feathered theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Greek ('), meaning ...

theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...

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

discovered in the

Barun Goyot Formation The Barun Goyot Formation (also known as Baruungoyot Formation or West Goyot Formation) is a geological formation dating to the Late Cretaceous Period. It is located within and is widely represented in the Gobi Desert Basin, in the Ömnögovi Pr ...

in Khulsan,

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

. The fossil remains of ''Shri'' date back to the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger 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 ''creta'', ...

period. The type and only species, ''Shri devi'', was described in 2021 by paleontologist Alan H. Turner and colleagues.

Description

The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

specimen of ''Shri'' is IGM 100/980. This specimen was discovered on 5 July 1991 by Mark Norell. It was nicknamed "Ichabodcraniosaurus" by Norell, as mentioned by Novacek (1996), after

Ichabod Crane Ichabod Crane is a fictional character and the protagonist in Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Crane is portrayed, in the original work, as well as in most adaptations, as a tall, lanky individual with a scarecro ...

, a fictional character haunted by a headless ghost, because it lacked the skull. In 1999 it was provisionally considered a specimen of ''

Velociraptor mongoliensis ''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the pa ...

''.Novacek, Michael J. (1996). ''Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs''. New York: Anchor Books. . It consists of a partially articulated individual that preserves the right hindlimb, the left tibiotarsus, as well as the pelvis and a series of cervical,

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal c ...

, sacral and

caudal Caudal may refer to: Anatomy * Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism * Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into the ...

vertebrae. This specimen is distinguishable from ''Velociraptor mongoliensis'' based on a weak fourth

trochanter A trochanter is a tubercle of the femur near its joint with the hip bone. In humans and most mammals, the trochanters serve as important muscle attachment sites. Humans are known to have three trochanters, though the anatomic "normal" includes ...

, this is however, also shared with all other dromaeosaurids, and deep anterior pedicular fossae in the cervical vertebrae. Another distinguishing trait of ''Shri'' is that its epipophyses in the last four cervicals are not raised but instead are represented by rugose circular scars.

Classification

''Shri devi'' was entered into a phylogenetic analysis to test its relationships within Dromaeosauridae. It was found to be the sister taxon of ''Velociraptor mongoliensis'' based on the presence of a distinct ambiens

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection ...

that is located proximally on the anterior face of the pubis, a well-developed anterior tuberosity located high on the

ischium The ischium () form ...

, as well as a rounded ischial ridge that runs lengthwise. A cladogram of the phylogenetic analysis performed by the describers is shown below:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q11710941 Eudromaeosaurs Campanian genera Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia Cretaceous Mongolia Paleontology in Mongolia Barun Goyot Formation Fossil taxa described in 2021