Ovoo gurvel
Ovoo gurvel | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Family: | Varanidae |
Genus: | †Ovoo Norell, Gao, & Conrad, 2008 |
Species: | †O. gurvel
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Binomial name | |
†Ovoo gurvel Norell, Gao, & Conrad, 2008
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Ovoo gurvel
Description and history
Ovoo is only known from a fossilized skull cataloged as IGM 3/767 and designated the holotype. The skull was discovered in 2001 near the rich Ukhaa Tolgod fossil site in a locality known as Little Ukhaa. The deposits at Little Uhhaa date back to the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. The generic name is derived from the name of a type of cairn called ovoos that are found along roads near Little Ukhaa. The specific name, gurvel, comes from the Mongolian word for lizard.[1]
Ovoo was very small compared to living monitor lizards, with the exception of the
- Nasals, located behind the nostril openings, that are divided into two bones (in living monitors they are fused into one bone).
- The large size of a pair of holes called premaxillary fenestrae in front of the nostril openings.
- A bone called the septomaxilla that separates the premaxilla (the bone at the very tip of the snout) from the maxilla (the bone that makes up the upper jaw).
- The small size of a hole in the septomaxilla bone called the septomaxillary foramen.
The most unusual feature of Ovoo is the presence of two small bones that are not present in any other lizard. When it was first described, these structures were called "mystery bones". The two bones are located between the eye sockets. They are positioned behind the nasal bones and in front of the frontal bones. There are no homologous bones in any other animal, making their presence a mystery.[1]
Classification
Ovoo is one of many Late Cretaceous lizards belonging to a group called
Varanoidea |
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References
- ^ S2CID 86423607.