Talos (genus)
| Talos | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Live artistic representation of Talos |
||||||||||
| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||
| Upper Chalk (Upper Campanium ) | ||||||||||
| 76.4 to 72 million years | ||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Talos | ||||||||||
| Zanno et al., 2011 | ||||||||||
Talos is a genus of theropod dinosaurs from the Troodontidae group . So far, a single, fragmentary skeleton is known that comes from the Kaiparowits Formation in the south of the US state of Utah and is dated to the Upper Cretaceous (Upper Campanium ). The find, which consists primarily of the pelvis and the hind legs, represents one of the most complete troodontid finds from North America. The only species is Talos sampsoni .
It was first described in September 2011 by researchers working with Lindsay Zanno in the journal Plos One Biology . This represents the first scientific genus renaming of a North American Troodontid in 75 years. The genus was named after Talos , a bronze giant in Greek mythology . Talos is also an allusion to the English word talon ("strongly curved claw"). The second part of the species name, sampsoni , honors Scott D. Sampson, paleontologist at the Natural History Museum of Utah and organizer of the research project to explore the Kaiparowits Formation.
features
The only specimen is estimated to be two meters long and about 60 centimeters high and weigh about 38 kilograms. Thus, this genus was significantly smaller than the contemporary related Troodon . Feathers have not been handed down; however, since feathers have been found in related genera, it is assumed that Talos also wore a plumage. As with related genera, there was a strongly curved and enlarged "sickle claw" on the second toe of the foot. In the skeleton found, the first phalanx of the second toe showed clear signs of an injury during the animal's lifetime, which was accompanied by inflammation and re-healing. The fact that the injury has healed successfully (over a long period of time) is interpreted to mean that the second toe was not essential for the animal's locomotion. This assumption is supported by fossil footprints, which show that the troodontid's second toe was held above the ground while walking - so the animals were functionally two-toed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Lindsay E. Zanno, David J. Varricchio, Patrick M. O'Connor, Alan L. Titus, Michael J. Knell: A new troodontid theropod, Talos sampsoni gen. Et sp. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Western Interior Basin of North America. In: PLoS ONE . Vol. 9, No. 6, 2011, e24487, doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0024487 .