Neck Caraptor
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Skull of the holotype of Halszkaraptor |
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| 75 to 71 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Neck Caraptor | ||||||||||||
| Cau et al. , 2017 | ||||||||||||
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Halszkaraptor (" Halszkas Räuber") is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the family of dromaeosaurids . It lived about 75 to 71 million years ago during the late Upper Cretaceous ( Campanian and early Maastrichtian ) in what is now Mongolia . The only known species is Halszkaraptor escuilliei . It was firstscientifically described in 2017 using a single, almost completely preserved fossil individual, the holotype .
Halszkaraptor was a small and, as a member of Halszkaraptorinae , basal (original) Dromaeosauride dinosaur and the first outside the Spinosauriden for which a semi aquatic life is accepted.
features
Halszkaraptor was a small dromaeosaurid about the size of a goose with the typical characteristics of its family: The animal was lightly built and had slender legs, each with a sickle-shaped claw, as is typical for other dromaeosaurs such as Velociraptor or the eponymous Dromaeosaurus is. Head, neck, and hands, however, were more like those of various water birds , especially ducks and herons , which he could have physically resembled. The hands of Halszkaraptor were flattened and, similar to penguins , could have been ideal for locomotion in the water .
The first investigations in December 2017 suggest that Halszkaraptor, as the only dinosaur outside the family of spinosaurids and birds (Aves), had a semi-aquatic way of life.
Similar to the spinosaurids and crocodiles , indicators for nerve tracts and blood vessels could also be determined in the skull of Halszkaraptor , which supported receptors in the area of the front muzzle and could be used to more efficiently track prey in the water. The physique with the hands described above and the long neck with a small skull made hunting in the water possible, while the animal's otherwise basal construction, especially with a view of its legs, could also track prey on land.
On land, Halszkaraptor could have tilted his head and neck backwards in order to keep his body balance . This is also known from today's water birds and is also assumed for Spinosaurus .
Research history
The fossil of the only specimen found so far, the holotype with the identification MPC D-102/109 , probably came from Ukhaa Tolgod in southern Mongolia, from the Djadochta formation . At first the holotype was illegally exported and resold to private dealers until it appeared on the European fossil market. It was only in 2015 that researchers were able to purchase the object there and thus make it accessible for paleontological investigation .
An international team of researchers examined the fossil for the first time in 2017. The main person responsible was Andrea Cau from the Giovanni Capellini Geological Museum at the University of Bologna . His collaborators were (among others) Pascal Godefroit from the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences in Brussels , Philip Currie from the University of Alberta and Paul Tafforeau from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility . At the latter institute, the specimen was scanned using the latest computed tomography techniques, which enabled data volumes of around 6 TB to be made accessible. In this way the skeleton could remain in the sandstone and thus be kept intact. The research results of the study were first published in December 2017 in the scientific journal Nature .
The genus was named after the Polish paleontologist Halszka Osmólska , who had made a name for herself in researching Mongolian dinosaurs. The suffix for the type - type was in honor of fossils dealer François Escuillié awarded, who had made the researchers to Andrea Cau on that later became the holotype specimen carefully.
Sites and paleoecology
The part of what is now Mongolia that Halszkaraptor inhabited was a predominantly dry, hot landscape in the late Cretaceous, Campanian and early Maastrichtian periods, which was dominated by savannah and desert areas . Halszkaraptor inhabited the rivers and wetlands in the area. It shared the habitat with closely related species, especially the Hulsanpes and Mahakala .
His diet was probably not limited to the fish and crustaceans that were available to him in the waters. On land he probably hunted a variety of small animals, including insects , mammals and reptiles .
Systematics
Based on the discovery and first description of Halszkaraptors , a new subfamily was introduced within the Dromaeosauridae, the Halszkaraptorinae . Researchers assume that the theropods Hulsanpes and Mahakala , which were also found in the Djadochta Formation of Mongolia, belong to the same clade and function together as sister taxons to Halszkaraptor :
| Dromaeosauridae |
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The Halszkaraptorinae form a separate clade within the Dromaeosauridae, whose representatives stand out due to their rather primeval, basal body structure (compared to that of the other dromaeosaurs).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Cau, A .; Beyrand, V .; Voeten, D .; Fernandez, V .; Tafforeau, P .; Stein, K .; Barsbold, R .; Tsogtbaatar, K .; Currie, P .; Godefroit, P. (December 6, 2017). Synchrotron scanning reveals amphibious ecomorphology in a new clade of bird-like dinosaurs . Nature . doi: 10.1038 / nature24679
