''Beesiiwo'' (meaning "big lizard") is a genus of hyperodapedontine

rhynchosaur Rhynchosaurs are a group of extinct herbivorous Triassic archosauromorph reptiles, belonging to the order Rhynchosauria. Members of the group are distinguished by their triangular skulls and elongated, beak like premaxillary bones. Rhynchosaurs ...

from the

Late Triassic The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch a ...

Popo Agie Formation The Popo Agie Formation ( )Locally "po-PO-zha" according to Don Pitcher, 2006, ''Moon Handbooks Wyoming,'' p. 26/ref>More ambiguous transcription of "po-po-zsha" at is a Triassic geologic Formation (geology), formation that outcrop, crops out in ...

in Western

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. The type and only species is ''B''. ''cooowuse'', known from four specimens consisting of left and right

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

fragments, and a left

dentary In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone ...

fragment.

Description

''Beesiiwo'' is known from four specimens which were referred to ''B''. ''cooowuse'' in 2023 by Fitch ''et'' ''al''., (2023). 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 ...

, USNM 494329 consists of a fragment of a left maxilla, and a left dentary, it was previously assigned to cf. "''Hyperodapedon''" ''sanjuanensis'' by Lucas ''et'' ''al''., (2002). The additional specimens, UWGM 7027, UWGM 7028, and TxVP 46037.1, consist of fragments of two right maxillae, and a left maxilla. The authors state that an additional specimen NSM018GFF009.003 (which is currently referred to ''Oryctorhynchus bairdi'' by Sues ''et'' ''al''., (2020)) has "No unique support for eing''Oryctorhynchus bairdi'', and

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do not consider it a part of ''O''. ''bairdi''. These attributes better align with those found in ''Beesiiwo cooowuse'' ...

suggest it is either a close relative of this taxon or a member of such." Beesiiwo cooowuse Life Reconstruction Gabriel Ugueto

Etymology

The generic name, ''Beesiiwo'', is the

Arapaho The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...

word , which translates to "big lizard" in English. The specific name, ''cooowuse'' , derives from the Arapaho name , which refers to the Alcova area of Central

, an area within traditional Arapaho Tribe land where ''Beesiiwo'' was found. The name was created by Fitch's Arapaho coauthors and is intended to honor the Arapaho people, language and continued stewardship of the Earth, as well as counteract a perceived "colonialism" in the form of using scientific names derived from geographical and personal names "given by colonizers" that "honor the colonizer at the expense of

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

peoples".

Classification

Fitch ''et'' ''al''., (2023) recovered ''Beesiiwo'' in the Hyperodapedontinae

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

of Hyperodapedontidae, as a sister taxon to ''Oryctorhynchus bairdi'' in a phylogenetic analysis. Their results are shown below:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q117540321 Fossil taxa described in 2023 Fossils of Wyoming Extinct reptiles Rhynchosauria Late Triassic reptiles of North America