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Draconyx

Mateus & Telles Antunes, 2001 DRAK-o-niks

From Latin draco (dragon) + Ancient Greek onyx (claw): 'dragon claw'.

149.2–143.1 million years ago Tithonian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Draconyx is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of what is now Portugal. It was found in the Lourinhã Formation in 1991, and described by Octávio Mateus and Miguel Telles Antunes in 2001.

Under dispute

Draconyx loureiroi was originally referred to Camptosauridae (Mateus and Antunes, 2001), and its position has remained unresolved since. It has been recovered among basal Styracosterna (Madzia and colleagues, 2021; Rotatori and colleagues, 2022), as the basalmost ankylopollexian alongside Oblitosaurus bunnueli (Sánchez-Fenollosa and colleagues, 2023), and outside Ankylopollexia entirely — Fonseca and colleagues (2024) recover it as a constituent of Dryomorpha rather than of Ankylopollexia, and Rotatori and colleagues (2026) recover it as the sister taxon of Cumnoria prestwichii, diverging before the ankylopollexian node. It is placed at Dryomorpha incertae sedis, the least inclusive clade common to every hypothesis.

Diagnosis

  1. Carpus unfused and non-interlocked.
  2. No sharp crest running from the medial condyle of the femur toward the lesser trochanter.
  3. Extensor groove on the distal epiphysis of the femur fully open and U-shaped; flexor groove fully open and V-shaped, without overhangs.
  4. Medial margin of the proximal epiphysis of the tibia concave.
  5. Fibular condyle of the tibia pointing caudally.
  6. Metatarsal I splint-like.

Species

Draconyx loureiroi Mateus & Telles Antunes, 2001

Type species

Named for João de Loureiro, a Portuguese Jesuit priest and pioneer in Portuguese paleontology.

Holotype
ML357 , Museu da Lourinhã
Material
Two maxillary teeth, three proximal caudal vertebrae, one chevron, distal end of right humerus, carpals, two metacarpal distal ends, four manual phalanges, five manual unguals, distal epiphysis of right femur, epiphyses of tibia and fibula, astragalus, calcaneum, two distal tarsals, four metatarsals, five pedal phalanges, two pedal unguals.
Horizon
Praia Azul Member, Lourinhã Formation, Tithonian, Late Jurassic , 149.2–143.1 million years ago
Locality
Vale Frades, Lisbon, Portugal

References

  1. Mateus, O.; Telles Antunes, M. (2001). Draconyx loureiroi, a new camptosauridae (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from the Late Jurassic of Lourinhã, Portugal. Annales de Paléontologie 87(1): 61-73. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/s0753-3969(01)88003-4 mateus2001a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026a
  3. Madzia, D.; Arbour, V. M.; Boyd, C. A.; Farke, A. A.; Cruzado-Caballero, P.; Evans, D. C. (2021). The phylogenetic nomenclature of ornithischian dinosaurs. PeerJ 9: e12362. doi:10.7717/peerj.12362

    Placed Draconyx among basal Styracosterna in an ornithischian phylogenetic nomenclature analysis.

    madzia2021a
  4. Sánchez-Fenollosa, S.; Verdú, F. J.; Cobos, A. (2023). The largest ornithopod (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Upper Jurassic of Europe sheds light on the evolutionary history of basal ankylopollexians. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 199(4): 1013-1033. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad076

    Recovers Draconyx as the basalmost member of Ankylopollexia together with Oblitosaurus bunnueli.

    sánchez-fenollosa2023a
  5. Fonseca, A. O.; Reid, I. J.; Venner, A.; Duncan, R. J.; Garcia, M. S.; Müller, R. T. (2024). A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis on early ornithischian evolution. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 22: 2346577. doi:10.1080/14772019.2024.2346577

    Recovers Draconyx as a constituent of Dryomorpha outside Ankylopollexia.

    fonseca2024a
  6. Rotatori, F. M.; Chiarenza, A. A.; Fanti, F.; Moreno-Azanza, M. (2026). The early origin of Iguanodontia: new insights into the macroevolution, diversity and biogeography of the clade. Palaeontology 69(2): e70057. doi:10.1111/pala.70057

    Recovers Draconyx as the sister taxon of Cumnoria prestwichii, diverging before the ankylopollexian node.

    rotatori2026a
  7. Rotatori, F. M.; Moreno-Azanza, M.; Mateus, O. (2022). Reappraisal and new material of the holotype of Draconyx loureiroi (Ornithischia: Iguanodontia) provide insights on the tempo and modo of evolution of thumb-spiked dinosaurs. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 195(1): 125-156. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab113

    Emended diagnosis and redescription of the holotype with newly reported manual material; places it in the Praia Azul Member at Vale Frades and reassigns the referred femur to Ankylopollexia indet.

    rotatori2022a