[D] Scipionyx samniticus [sG] [T]
Describer
Dal Sasso & Signore, 1998
Time
Cretaceous Early Albian
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria
Diet
Carnivore
Fossilsite
Pietraroia Plattenkalk, near Napels Italy
Length
2 meter (0,23 meter)
Info
Genus - Typespecies - Skull
Found in the Matese mountains, Early Cretaceous Pietraroia Plattenkalk (Benevento Province) 30 miles northeast of Naples which is well known for exceptionally well preserved freshwater organisms, shrimps, fishes, and crocodilians.
Scipionyx samniticus was discovered in 1980, by Giovanni Todesco and his wife Giovanna, two amateur paleontologist from San Giovanni Ilarione (Verona). Only after watching the movie \\\"Jurassic Park\\\" in 1993, Giovanni Todesco and his wife realized that what they had recovered many years before in Pietraroja was a dinosaur.
Named after the Roman general Scipio Africanus, and in reference to Scipione Breislak, the geologist who first described the fossils from this area in 1798. \\\'Samniticus\\\' is derived from the Latin name for the Benevento province where it was found. This dinosaur was also know as the \\\"Benevento theropod\\\". The juvenile dinosaur skeleton only missing parts of legs and tail is 23,7 cm long his adult size was approximately 2 meter. The length of the skull is 5.2 cm
The internal organs are very well preserved in the throat region is a segment of wind pipe, with the reinforcing rings, and there are patches of preserved muscle in the shoulder area and at the base of the tail. The most amazing feature is the preserved intestine, a broad but short irregular tube filling the abdominal cavity, and showing bands of muscular tissue.
Other soft-tissue traces include a haematitic (iron-rich) halo just in front of the intestine, and possibly representing the liver. The preservation is better than in other lagerstatten where theropod soft tissue has been reported, such as the Santana Formation of Brazil and the Yixian Formation of China.
Scipionyx shares the following characteristics with the maniraptoriformes: the derived presence of third antorbital fenestral, elongate cervical prezygapophyses, forelimb/presacral ratio of 0.75, ulna bowed posteriorly, semilunate carpal, and slender metacarpal III. The presence of a furcula in this articulated specimen eliminates every doubt about the interpretation of similar structures in other theropods.\\\"
However, the anatomical characteristics do not allow placement of Scipionyx in one of the know families of carnivore dinosaurs, Scipionyx probably represents a new before unknow coelurosaur familie. But this new family cann’t get a name yet because the ICZN demants more than one genus of dinosaur must fit in a family.
Dal Sasso & Signore, 1998
Time
Cretaceous Early Albian
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria
Diet
Carnivore
Fossilsite
Pietraroia Plattenkalk, near Napels Italy
Length
2 meter (0,23 meter)
Info
Genus - Typespecies - Skull
Found in the Matese mountains, Early Cretaceous Pietraroia Plattenkalk (Benevento Province) 30 miles northeast of Naples which is well known for exceptionally well preserved freshwater organisms, shrimps, fishes, and crocodilians.
Scipionyx samniticus was discovered in 1980, by Giovanni Todesco and his wife Giovanna, two amateur paleontologist from San Giovanni Ilarione (Verona). Only after watching the movie \\\"Jurassic Park\\\" in 1993, Giovanni Todesco and his wife realized that what they had recovered many years before in Pietraroja was a dinosaur.
Named after the Roman general Scipio Africanus, and in reference to Scipione Breislak, the geologist who first described the fossils from this area in 1798. \\\'Samniticus\\\' is derived from the Latin name for the Benevento province where it was found. This dinosaur was also know as the \\\"Benevento theropod\\\". The juvenile dinosaur skeleton only missing parts of legs and tail is 23,7 cm long his adult size was approximately 2 meter. The length of the skull is 5.2 cm
The internal organs are very well preserved in the throat region is a segment of wind pipe, with the reinforcing rings, and there are patches of preserved muscle in the shoulder area and at the base of the tail. The most amazing feature is the preserved intestine, a broad but short irregular tube filling the abdominal cavity, and showing bands of muscular tissue.
Other soft-tissue traces include a haematitic (iron-rich) halo just in front of the intestine, and possibly representing the liver. The preservation is better than in other lagerstatten where theropod soft tissue has been reported, such as the Santana Formation of Brazil and the Yixian Formation of China.
Scipionyx shares the following characteristics with the maniraptoriformes: the derived presence of third antorbital fenestral, elongate cervical prezygapophyses, forelimb/presacral ratio of 0.75, ulna bowed posteriorly, semilunate carpal, and slender metacarpal III. The presence of a furcula in this articulated specimen eliminates every doubt about the interpretation of similar structures in other theropods.\\\"
However, the anatomical characteristics do not allow placement of Scipionyx in one of the know families of carnivore dinosaurs, Scipionyx probably represents a new before unknow coelurosaur familie. But this new family cann’t get a name yet because the ICZN demants more than one genus of dinosaur must fit in a family.