''Ningyuansaurus'' is a pennaraptoran

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 ...

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 ...

. It contains the single species ''Ningyuansaurus wangi'', known from a fossil specimen from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

Yixian Formation The Yixian Formation (; formerly Romanization of Chinese, transcribed as Yihsien Formation or Yixiang Formation) is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous. I ...

(

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

stage, 124.6 Ma ago) of

Jianchang Jianchang () is a county of Huludao City in the southwest of Liaoning province, China. It is the largest division of Huludao, with an area of , and population of 450,000 in 2020, located in mountainous terrain west of that city, serviced by Chin ...

, western

Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

Province,

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It was originally thought to be the basalmost species of oviraptorosaur, based on its long

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

and a greater number of teeth in comparison to any other known oviraptorosaur. However, later research showed that it is a member of Halszkaraptorinae. The generic name ''Ningyuansaurus'' is derived from Ningyuan, an ancient name for Xingcheng City. The specific name honors Wang Qiuwu, the private owner of the specimen who donated it for scientific study. The specimen is now in the Confuciusornis Museum in Xingcheng.

Description

The only known

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

specimen of ''N. wangi'' is notable for having a large number of teeth compared to more advanced oviraptorosaurs, but the teeth in the back of the upper jaw (

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 ...

) are still reduced in number compared to most other non-avialan theropods. The reduced number of maxillary teeth in ''Ningyuansaurus'' is shared with the scansoriopterygids and other basal oviraptorosaurs such as ''

Incisivosaurus ''Incisivosaurus'' ("incisor lizard") is a genus of small, probably herbivorous theropod dinosaurs from the early Cretaceous Period of what is now the People's Republic of China. The first specimen to be described (by Xu ''et al.'' in 2002), IVPP ...

''. Though the skull is poorly preserved, the specimen preserved at least 14 teeth in the lower jaw (

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 ...

) and 10 teeth in the upper jaw, four in the

premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammals h ...

and six in the maxilla. The teeth were closely packed together and lacked serrations. The eyes were relatively large. The skull was generally triangular in shape but longer than other basal oviraptorosaurs like ''

Caudipteryx ''Caudipteryx'' (meaning "tail feather") is a genus of small oviraptorosaur dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Early Cretaceous, around 124.6 million years ago. They were feathered and extremely birdlike in their overall appearance, to the ...

'', with a straight lower jaw unlike most other oviraptorosaurs. The arms were short, with longer upper arms (humeri) than lower arms (ulna). The legs were long, and the upper leg (femur) was longer than the pelvic bones. The tail was relatively long and feather impressions were found near the tip. Additional feather impressions were identified along the neck.

Phylogeny

Ji et al., 2012 considered ''Ningyuansaurus'' a basal member of Oviraptorosauria. However, some traits, such as the low iliofemoral ratio, low ischiopubic ratio and enlarged pedal ungual II are more similar to paravians. While a 2016 study recovered it as an oviraptorosaur, the only non-oviraptorosaur taxa are ''

Archaeopteryx ''Archaeopteryx'' (; ), sometimes referred to by its German name, "" ( ''Primeval Bird'') is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. The name derives from the ancient Greek (''archaîos''), meaning "ancient", and (''ptéryx''), meaning "feather" ...

'', ''

Velociraptor ''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaurs 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 th ...

'' and ''

Herrerasaurus ''Herrerasaurus'' is likely a genus of saurischian dinosaur from the Late Triassic period. Measuring long and weighing around , this genus was one of the earliest dinosaurs from the fossil record. Its name means "Herrera's lizard", after the ...

'' and the study does not recover a paravian ''Velociraptor''. The 2019 description of '' Hesperornithoides'', which contains many oviraptorosaurs, recovers ''Ningyuansaurus'' as the sister taxon of ''

Mahakala Mahākāla (, ) is a deity common to Hinduism and Buddhism. In Buddhism, Mahākāla is regarded as a ''Dharmapala, Dharmapāla'' ("Protector of the Dharma") and a Wrathful deities, wrathful manifestation of a The Buddha, Buddha, while in Hindu ...

'' within Halszkaraptorinae:

Diet

Numerous small oval-shaped structures were found in the body cavity of the type specimen, each or less in diameter. These may be the remains of seeds, indicating that ''N. wangi'' was at least partially a seed-eater.

References

* Q. Ji, J.-c. Lü, X.-f. Wei and X.-r. Wang. 2012. A new oviraptorosaur from the Yixian Formation of Jianching, western Liaoning Province, China. Geological Bulletin of China 31(12):2102-2107 {{Taxonbar, from=Q6580233 Maniraptora Dinosaur genera Barremian dinosaurs Yixian Formation Fossil taxa described in 2012 Dinosaurs of China Feathered dinosaurs

Description

Phylogeny

Diet

See also

References