[D] Martharaptor greenriverensis [sG] [T]
Describer
Senter, Kirkland & DeBlieux 2012
Time
Cretaceous Early Aptian
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria Therizinosauroidea Therizinosauridae
Diet
?
Fossilsite
Cedar Mountain Formation, Yellow Cat Member, Utah, US
Info
Abstract
Background
The Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation (Early Cretaceous, Barremian?) of Utah has yielded a rich dinosaur fauna, including the basal therizinosauroid theropod Falcarius utahensis at its base. Recent excavation uncovered a new possible therizinosauroid taxon from a higher stratigraphic level in the Cedar Mountain Formation than F. utahensis.
Methodology/Principal Findings
Here we describe a fragmentary skeleton of the new theropod and perform a phylogenetic analysis to determine its phylogenetic position. The skeleton includes fragments of vertebrae, a scapula, forelimb and hindlimb bones, and an ischium. It also includes several well-preserved manual unguals. Manual and pedal morphology show that the specimen is distinct from other theropods from the Cedar Mountain Formation and from previously described therizinosauroids. It is here named as the holotype of a new genus and species, Martharaptor greenriverensis. Phylogenetic analysis places M. greenriverensis within Therizinosauroidea as the sister taxon to Alxasaurus + Therizinosauridae, although support for this placement is weak.
Conclusions/Significance
The new specimen adds to the known dinosaurian fauna of the Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation. If the phylogenetic placement is correct, it also adds to the known diversity of Therizinosauroidea.
Holotype
The holotype specimen is UMNH VP 21400 (Natural History Museum of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah). Etymology. The species name refers to the city of Green River in Emery County, Utah. The genus name honors Martha Hayden, who co-discovered the site and has served as the assistant to three successive state paleontologists of Utah over a period of about 25 years.
Geological setting
The Hayden-Corbett Site (Gr287v) is at the top of an approximately 20 cm thick sandstone, interpreted to represent a crevasse splay deposit, in the Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation approximately 8 miles southeast of Green River, Utah in the immediate vicinity of the Suarez and Crystal Geyser sites, both of which are bone beds yielding abundant specimens of the basal therizinosauroid Falcarius. A gravelly, calcareous sandstone often hosting a stromatolitic layer at its top that divides the Yellow Cat Member into an upper and lower sequence [34,35] has been informally designated the caprock in this area. The Hayden-Corbett site is above thisregional marker bed, whereas both the Suarez and Crystal Geyser Quarries are below the caprock. The upper Yellow Cat Member has been dated at about 124 Ma (early Aptian) based on detrital zircons. The bones of the holotype of M. greenriverensis were found disarticulated. However, there is no indication that more than one individual is present in the sample. All the skeletal material, including the surface ‘‘float’’ that drew attention to the skeleton, was found in an area of less than two square meters, and most of it is from an excavated mudstone block that is less than one squaremeter in lateral area and less than 0.2 m deep. There is no duplication of elements, the sizes of the bones are consistent with their having come from a single individual, and there are no morphological indicators that multiple taxa are present. We are therefore confident that the material can all be assigned to a single individual.
Diagnosis
Theropod dinosaur with the following combination of character states: cervical prezygapophyses not flexed;cranial dorsal vertebrae with hypapophyses and a single pair of pneumatopores; manual unguals without proximodorsal lips and with prominent flexor tubercles and strong curvature; manual unguals in which total length perpendicular to the articular facet is subequal to total height parallel to the articular facet; ungual of manual digit III nearly as large as that of digit II; distal end of scapula expanded; proximal end of ischium laterally compressed; metatarsal I proximally attenuated and distally reduced in transverse width relative to the other metatarsals; all metatarsals distally non-ginglymoid; fourth metatarsal distally attenuated immediately proximal to condyles; pedal unguals laterally compressed and strongly curved; first pedal ungual smaller thanthe others. No other theropod dinosaur exhibits this combination of character states. However, because of the fragmentary nature of the specimen, it is important to be specific about how this combination of character states distinguishes the specimen as a new taxon. Therefore, below we show how these character states distinguish the new specimen from other theropods of the Cedar Mountain Formation and from previously described therizinosauroids.