Notatesseraeraptor
From Latin 'nota' (feature), 'tesserae' (mosaic tiles), and 'raptor' (thief); meaning 'feature mosaic tile thief', referencing the mixture of features from dilophosaurids and coelophysoids.
Late Triassic stages
Notatesseraeraptor is a genus of carnivorous theropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic of what is now Switzerland. It was found in the Gruhalde Member of the Klettgau Formation. It was an early member of Neotheropoda with affinities to Dilophosaurus and Averostra. The new genus and species Notatesseraeraptor frickensis was named by Marion Zahner and colleagues in 2019.
Diagnosis
- Supratemporal fossa restricted to posterior half of parietal (autapomorphy)
- Four exceptionally long, slender premaxillary tooth crowns with fine serrations
- Two recesses in maxillary antorbital fossa (promaxillary foramen and maxillary fossa)
- Three distinct articular processes (medial, dorsolateral, dorsal)
- Markedly low-rectangular neural spines on posterior dorsal vertebrae
- Flattened ventral surfaces of sacral centra
- Pronounced distal expansions ('boots') of pubis and ischium, ischial larger than pubic
- Anterior caudals with longitudinal fossae on centra and neural arches
Species
Notatesseraeraptor frickensis Zahner & Brinkmann, 2019
Type species
Named for the municipality of Frick in the Aargau, Switzerland, where the holotype was discovered.
- Holotype
- SMF 06-1, SMF 09-2 , Sauriermuseum Frick
- Material
- Partial postcranial skeleton and cranium of a juvenile to subadult individual.
- Horizon
- upper Gruhalde Member, Klettgau Formation, Norian, Late Triassic , 227.3–205.7 million years ago
- Locality
- Gruhalde clay pit, Frick, Aargau, Switzerland
References
- Zahner, M.; Brinkmann, W. (2019). A Triassic averostran-line theropod from Switzerland and the early evolution of dinosaurs. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3(8): 1146-1152. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0941-z zahner2019a