Mahakala
Named after Mahakala, a deity common to Hinduism and Buddhism.
Mahakala is a genus of halszkaraptorine theropod dinosaur from the Campanian-age (about 80 million years ago) Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation of Ömnögovi, Mongolia. It is based on a partial skeleton found in the Gobi Desert. Mahakala was a small dromaeosaurid, and its skeleton shows features that are also found in early troodontids and avialans. Despite its late appearance, it is among the most basal dromaeosaurids. Its small size, and the small size of other basal deinonychosaurians, suggests that small size appeared before flight capability in birds.
Under dispute
Mahakala was originally described as the basalmost dromaeosaurid (Turner and colleagues, 2007), a position recovered by analyses that do not include the other halszkaraptorines (Turner and colleagues, 2012; Pei and colleagues, 2020). Cau and colleagues (2017) recovered it within Halszkaraptorinae, the placement followed, though Jasinski and colleagues (2020) recovered it outside that clade, in a basal dromaeosaurid polytomy.
Diagnosis
- Strongly compressed and anteroposteriorly broad ulna tapering posteriorly to a narrow edge
- Elongate lateral crest on posterodistal femur
- Anterior caudal vertebrae with subhorizontal, laterally directed prezygapophyses
- Prominent supratrochanteric process
- Absence of cuppedicus fossa within dromaeosaurids but characteristic of avialans
Species
Mahakala omnogovae Turner et al., 2007
Type species
Named for Ömnögovi (South Gobi Province) of Mongolia, where the holotype was discovered, with the genitive Latin suffix '-ae' meaning 'of'.
- Holotype
- IGM 100/1033 , Paleontological Center, Mongolian Academy of Sciences
- Material
- Partial skull and postcranial skeleton (~70 cm long), young adult or near adult based on neurocentral and astragalocalcaneal fusion, braincase coossification.
- Horizon
- Tugrugyin Member, Djadokhta Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
- Locality
- Tögrögiin Shiree, Ömnögovi, Mongolia
References
- Turner, A. H.; Pol, D.; Clarke, J. A.; Erickson, G. M.; Norell, M. A. (2007). A Basal Dromaeosaurid and Size Evolution Preceding Avian Flight. Science 317(5843): 1378-1381. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi:10.1126/science.1144066 turner2007a
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Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates, and the appearance features.
jones2026c -
Cau, A.; Beyrand, V.; Voeten, D. F. A. E.; Fernandez, V.; Tafforeau, P.; Stein, K.; Barsbold, R.; Tsogtbaatar, K.; Currie, P. J.; Godefroit, P. (2017). Synchrotron scanning reveals amphibious ecomorphology in a new clade of bird-like dinosaurs. Nature 552(7685): 395-399. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/nature24679
Recovered Mahakala within Halszkaraptorinae in their phylogenetic analysis.
cau2017a -
Jasinski, S. E.; Sullivan, R. M.; Dodson, P. (2020). New Dromaeosaurid Dinosaur (Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae) from New Mexico and Biodiversity of Dromaeosaurids at the end of the Cretaceous. Scientific Reports 10(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-61480-7
Recovered Mahakala outside Halszkaraptorinae in their dromaeosaurid phylogeny.
jasinski2020a -
Turner, A. H.; Makovicky, P. J.; Norell, M. A. (2012). A Review of Dromaeosaurid Systematics and Paravian Phylogeny. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 371: 1-206. doi:10.1206/748.1
Recovered Mahakala as the basalmost dromaeosaurid.
turner2012a -
Pei, R.; Pittman, M.; Goloboff, P. A.; Dececchi, T. A.; Habib, M. B.; Kaye, T. G.; Larsson, H. C. E.; Norell, M. A.; Brusatte, S. L.; Xu, X. (2020). Potential for Powered Flight Neared by Most Close Avialan Relatives, but Few Crossed Its Thresholds. Current Biology 30(20): 4033-4046.e8. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.105
Recovered Mahakala as the earliest-diverging dromaeosaurid.
pei2020a