Yurgovuchia
| Yurgovuchia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Cervical and dorsal vertebrae of holotype UMNH VP 20211 | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Dromaeosauridae |
| Clade: | †Eudromaeosauria |
| Subfamily: | †Dromaeosaurinae |
| Genus: | †Yurgovuchia Senter et al. 2012 |
| Type species | |
| †Yurgovuchia doellingi Senter et al. 2012
| |
Yurgovuchia (meaning "coyote") is a
dinosaurs that lived in North America during the Early Cretaceous period in what is now the Cedar Mountain Formation. It contains a single species, Yurgovuchia doellingi. The remains were discovered in Utah, United States
.
Discovery and naming
The holotype was collected by Donald D. DeBlieux in 2005, from Don's Place, part of the Doelling's Bowl bone bed in
period, about 139–134.6 million years ago. Yurgovuchia was first described and named by Phil Senter, James I. Kirkland, Donald D. DeBlieux, Scott Madsen and Natalie Toth in 2012 and the type species is Yurgovuchia doellingi.[1]
The
generic name is derived from the Ute word yurgovuch, meaning coyote, a predator of similar size to Y. doellingi which currently inhabits the same region. The specific name, doellingi, honors the geologist Helmut Doelling, for his 50-plus years of geological research and mapping of Utah for the Utah Geological Survey and for causing the discovery of the Doelling's Bowl dinosaur sites, in which Y. doellingi was collected.[1]
Description
Yurgovuchia is known only from a single individual represented by an associated partial
dromaeosaurid, with an estimed size of 2.5 m (8.2 ft).[1]
Life restoration
of an individualAccording to its describers in 2012, Yurgovuchia can be recognized from other dromaeosaurid taxa by the following characteristics: each side of the
prezygapophyses is flexed, cervical vertebrae epipophyses is above the postzygapophyseal facets, the pubis lacks pubic tubercle, the cranial faces of the centrum of caudal vertebrae are round, the cervical and dorsal vertebrae preserve hypapophyses without pneumatopores, the caudal prezygapophyses is distally elongated to the transition point, but not surpassing the length of a centrum.[1]
Classification
According to the
dromaeosaurines, closely related to Achillobator, Dromaeosaurus and Utahraptor. Below are the results obtained:[1]
Paleoecology
Other dinosaurs are also known from Don's Place including the iguanodontians
Yurgovuchia shared its environment and lived alongside other dinosaurs in the Lower Yellow Cat, such as the
iguanodontians Iguanacolossus.[2] There are also indeterminate goniopholidid crocodiles and the unnamed velociraptorines known from the Lower Yellow Cat.[1][2]
See also
References
- ^ PMID 22615813.
- ^ .
- ISBN 9780691167664.