TY - JOUR

T1 - The last ceratosaur of Asia: a new noasaurid from the Early Cretaceous Great Siberian Refugium

AU - Аверьянов, Александр Олегович

AU - Скучас, Павел Петрович

AU - Атучин, Андрей

AU - Слободин, Дмитрий

AU - Феофанова, Ольга

AU - Владимирова, Ольга

PY - 2024/5/15

Y1 - 2024/5/15

N2 - The noasaurid ceratosaur Kiyacursor longipes gen. et sp. nov. is described based on a fragmentary skeleton including cervical vertebra, pectoral girdle, humerus and hind limbs from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Ilek Formation at Shestakovo 1 locality in Western Siberia, Russia. This is the first ceratosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Asia, extending the stratigraphic range of Ceratosauria by 40 Myr on that continent. Kiyacursor shares unique hind limb proportions with Elaphrosaurus and Limusaurus, suggesting improved cursorial ability. These taxa show an ostrich-like specialization of the pes, with a large third metatarsal and greatly reduced second metatarsal. By contrast, all other fast running non-avian theropod dinosaurs have an arctometatarsalian pes, with the third metatarsal strongly reduced proximally. The new taxon lived in the Early Cretaceous ecosystem containing a number of other Jurassic relics, such as stem salamanders, protosuchian and shartegosuchid crocodyliforms, tritylodontid synapsids and docodontan mammaliaforms.

AB - The noasaurid ceratosaur Kiyacursor longipes gen. et sp. nov. is described based on a fragmentary skeleton including cervical vertebra, pectoral girdle, humerus and hind limbs from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Ilek Formation at Shestakovo 1 locality in Western Siberia, Russia. This is the first ceratosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Asia, extending the stratigraphic range of Ceratosauria by 40 Myr on that continent. Kiyacursor shares unique hind limb proportions with Elaphrosaurus and Limusaurus, suggesting improved cursorial ability. These taxa show an ostrich-like specialization of the pes, with a large third metatarsal and greatly reduced second metatarsal. By contrast, all other fast running non-avian theropod dinosaurs have an arctometatarsalian pes, with the third metatarsal strongly reduced proximally. The new taxon lived in the Early Cretaceous ecosystem containing a number of other Jurassic relics, such as stem salamanders, protosuchian and shartegosuchid crocodyliforms, tritylodontid synapsids and docodontan mammaliaforms.

KW - Ceratosauria

KW - Dinosauria

KW - Early Cretaceous

KW - Russia

KW - Theropoda

KW - Western Siberia

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/6edf9849-b108-3c60-9706-753b4319c2eb/

U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2024.0537

DO - 10.1098/rspb.2024.0537

M3 - Article

VL - 291

JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

SN - 0962-8452

ER -