Caenagnathus
Caenagnathus | |
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Holotype mandible | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Family: | †Caenagnathidae |
Subfamily: | † Caenagnathinae
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Genus: | †Caenagnathus Sternberg, 1940 |
Species: | †C. collinsi
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Binomial name | |
†Caenagnathus collinsi Sternberg, 1940
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Caenagnathus ('recent jaw') is a
Description
Caenagnathus was a large oviraptorosaurian, with some specimens suggesting it achieved sizes comparable to its relative Anzu. Like Anzu, it had a toothless lower beak that was shallower in depth than those of elmisaurines. It also shared with Anzu less gracile proportions than those of elmisaurines.[3] Like all oviraptorosaurs, it would most likely have possessed a coat of feathers.
Classification
This dinosaur has a confusing history. In 1936, a set of jaws (CMN 8776) were found, and later given the name Caenagnathus, meaning 'recent jaw'; they were first thought to be those of a bird.[4] In 1988, a specimen from storage since 1923 was discovered and studied. This fossil was used to link the discoveries of several fragmentary oviraptorosaur species into a single dinosaur, which was assigned to the genus Chirostenotes, originally named for a pair of hands that were long considered to come from the same animal as Caenagnathus. Since the first name applied to any of these remains was Chirostenotes, this was the only name recognized as valid for many years.[5] However, Senter and Parrish (2005) doubted the synonymy of Caenagnathus with Chirostenotes, noting that the maxillary remains included in the Epichirostenotes holotype didn't overlap with CMN 8776. A cladistic analysis of Coelurosauria by Senter (2007) found Caenagnathus to fall basally within Caenagnathoidea, while Chirostenotes fell as a derived taxon related to Elmisaurus.[6][7]
The status and relationships of Caenagnathus to other caenagnathid oviraptorosaurians began to be resolved with the discovery of more complete specimens in 2014 and 2015. The description of
Caenagnathoidea |
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A new Chirostenotes specimen described by Funston and Currie (2020) preserving a mandible provides further evidence that Caenagnathus is a distinct genus from Chirostenotes despite both taxa being part of the Caenagnathidae.[9]
See also
References
- ^ .
- OCLC 985402380.
- ISSN 2292-1389.
- ^ Sternberg, R.M. (1940). "A toothless bird from the Cretaceous of Alberta". Journal of Paleontology. 14 (1): 81–85.
- doi:10.1139/e88-097.
- ^ Senter, P.; Parrish, J.M. (2005). "Functional analysis of the hands of the theropod dinosaur Chirostenotes pergracilis: evidence for an unusual paleoecological role". PaleoBios. 25: 9–19.
- .
- PMID 24647078.
- Cracraft, J (1971). "Caenagnathiformes: Cretaceous birds convergent in jaw mechanism to dicynodont reptiles". Journal of Paleontology. 45: 805–809.
- Sues, H.D. (1997). "On Chirostenotes, a Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from Western North America". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 17 (4): 698–716. .