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Dzharacursor

Averianov & Sues, 2024 JAH-ruh-VEN-uh-tuh

From Dzharakuduk (the type locality in Uzbekistan) and Latin 'cursor' (runner); meaning 'Dzharakuduk runner'.

93.9–89.8 million years ago Turonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Dzharacursor is an extinct genus of ornithomimid theropod dinosaur from the Turonian-age Bissekty Formation of the Kyzyl Kum Desert, Uzbekistan. The type and only species, Dzharacursor bissektensis, was originally named by Nessov (1995) as a tentative species of the North American genus Archaeornithomimus, then treated as a nomen dubium until Averianov and Sues (2024) erected the new genus on the basis of a juvenile femur holotype and a large hypodigm of referred postcranial and cranial material recovered from the Bissekty bonebed.

Diagnosis

  1. Frontal exposure on the dorsal orbital rim straight, similar in length to prefrontal facet; frontal domes separated by shallow median depression
  2. Dorsal vertebrae lacking pleurocoels; anterior dorsals with pronounced hypapophyses and ventral keels
  3. Posterior caudals with dorsoventrally flattened centra
  4. Metacarpal I subequal in length to metacarpal II; distal articular end of metacarpal I ginglymoid; distal articular end of metacarpal II non-ginglymoid
  5. Shallow notch between pubic peduncle and obturator process of ischium
  6. Pedal unguals with pronounced flexor fossa and flexor tubercle; distal part of pedal unguals angled relative to proximal part

Species

Dzharacursor bissektensis Averianov & Sues, 2024

Type species

Refers to the Bissekty Formation, the geological unit that yielded the holotype and referred specimens.

Holotype
CCMGE 479/12457 , F.N. Chernyshev Central Museum of Geological Exploration
Material
Right femur of a juvenile individual
Horizon
middle Bissekty Formation, Turonian, Late Cretaceous , 93.9–89.8 million years ago
Locality
CBI-14, Navoiy, Uzbekistan

Notable specimens

  • ZIN PH 1400/16

    Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences reproductive

    A referred femur may preserve medullary bone, an endosteal tissue formed in female birds preparing to lay eggs. Given the sampled individual's size, it may indicate Dzharacursor females reached sexual maturity before somatic maturity.

    Skutschas et al. (2016)

References

  1. Averianov, A. O.; Sues, H. D. (2024). A new ornithomimid theropod from the Upper Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 44(3). Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2433759 averianov2024b
  2. Skutschas, P. P.; Boitsova, E. A.; Averianov, A. O.; Sues, H. D. (2016). Ontogenetic changes in long-bone histology of an ornithomimid theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. Historical Biology 29(6): 715-729. doi:10.1080/08912963.2016.1233180 skutschas2016a
  3. Nessov, L. A. (1995). Dinozavri severnoi Yevrazii: Novye dannye o sostave kompleksov, ekologii i paleobiogeografii [Dinosaurs of northern Eurasia: new data about assemblages, ecology, and paleobiogeography]. Institute for Scientific Research on the Earth's Crust, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 1-156.

    Originally named the taxon as a tentative species of Archaeornithomimus.

    nessov1995a