Talos sampsoni

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Talos sampsoni
Temporal range:
Ma
↓
Articulated foot
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Family: †Troodontidae
Genus: †Talos
Zanno et al., 2011
Species:
†T. sampsoni
Binomial name
†Talos sampsoni
Zanno et al., 2011

Talos is an

period (late Campanian, about 76 Ma) in the geographic area that is now Utah
, United States.

Discovery

Skeletal restoration of the holotype by Scott Hartman, with known parts shown in red

Talos is known only from the

generic name comes from Talos, a giant bronze automaton in Greek mythology and is intended to be a pun on the English word talon. The specific name honors television paleontologist Dr. Scott D. Sampson for researching and collecting fossils during the Kaiparowits Basin Project.[1]

Description

Restoration.

Talos is a

hands, and some of the highest non-avian encephalization quotients, meaning they were behaviourally advanced and had keen senses.[2] Talos is approximately 2 metres (6.6 ft) in length, and its weight has been estimated at thirty-eight kilograms. Talos had a sickle claw. That of the specimen was damaged during life, possibly in an attack on prey.[1]

In 2011 Talos was assigned to the

Zanabazar and Troodon.[1]

Paleoecology

Vertebrae

Habitat

The only known specimen of Talos was recovered at the Kaiparowits Formation, in southern Utah.

Argon-argon radiometric dating indicates that the Kaiparowits Formation was deposited between 76.1 and 74.0 million years ago, during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period.[3][4] During the Late Cretaceous period, the site of the Kaiparowits Formation was located near the western shore of the Western Interior Seaway, a large inland sea that split North America into two landmasses, Laramidia to the west and Appalachia to the east. The plateau where dinosaurs lived was an ancient floodplain dominated by large channels and abundant wetland peat swamps, ponds and lakes, and was bordered by highlands. The climate was wet and humid, and supported an abundant and diverse range of organisms.[5] This formation contains one of the best and most continuous records of Late Cretaceous terrestrial life in the world.[6]

Paleofauna

A Kosmoceratops disturbed from its rest by a wandering Talos

Talos shared its

multituberculates, marsupials, and insectivorans.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^
    PMID 21949721.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  2. doi:10.4202/app.2009.0047
    .
  3. ^ Roberts EM, Deino AL, Chan MA (2005) 40Ar/39Ar age of the Kaiparowits Formation, southern Utah, and correlation of contemporaneous Campanian strata and vertebrate faunas along the margin of the Western Interior Basin. Cretaceous Res 26: 307–318.
  4. ^ Eaton, J.G., 2002. Multituberculate mammals from the Wahweap (Campanian, Aquilan) and Kaiparowits (Campanian, Judithian) formations, within and near Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, southern Utah. Miscellaneous Publication 02-4, UtahGeological Survey, 66 pp.
  5. ^ Titus, Alan L. and Mark A. Loewen (editors). At the Top of the Grand Staircase: The Late Cretaceous of Southern Utah. 2013. Indiana University Press. Hardbound: 634 pp.
  6. ^ Clinton, William. "Presidential Proclamation: Establishment of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument". September 18, 1996. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  7. S2CID 131302174
    .
  8. ISBN 1-55791-634-9
    .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talos_sampsoni&oldid=1196867104"