Arkharavia
| Arkharavia Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 66 Ma | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Neosauropoda |
| Clade: | †Titanosauriformes |
| Clade: | †Somphospondyli |
| Genus: | †Arkharavia Alifanov & Bolotsky, 2010 |
| Type species | |
| Arkharavia heterocoelica Alifanov & Bolotsky, 2010 | |
Arkharavia is a dubious genus of somphospondylan sauropod, but at least some of the remains probably belong to a hadrosaurid.[1] It lived in what is now Russia, during the Late Cretaceous. It was described in 2010 by Alifanov and Bolotsky. The type species is A. heterocoelica.
Description
The holotype material consists of a single anterior caudal vertebra. Also, a tooth and a few proximal tail vertebrae (from near the base of the tail) were originally described as belonging to this species, but these probably belong to an indeterminate hadrosaur.[1][2] The vertebrae are unusual in being weakly heterocoelous,[3] which means that the centrum or body of a vertebra has saddle-shaped surfaces where it meets the vertebrae in front or behind it.
Classification
Arkharavia was originally classified as a titanosauriform sauropod, thought to be related to Chubutisaurus, a sauropod from the Cretaceous of Argentina.[3] However, further study showed that the referred vertebra in fact belonged to a hadrosaurid.[2] The holotype vertebra is currently considered an indeterminate somphospondylan.[1]
Contemporaries
Arkharavia lived in the Amur Region, which was a 'hot spot' for dinosaurs in Russia. Other dinosaurs from the area include the lambeosaurines (hollow-crested duckbills) Amurosaurus, Olorotitan, and Charonosaurus, and the saurolophine (duckbills without hollow crests) Kerberosaurus and Wulagasaurus.[3]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 P. D. Mannion, P. Upchurch, R. N. Barnes and O. Mateus. (2013). "Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 168: 98-206.
- 1 2 Godefroit, P., Bolotsky, Y.L. and Bolotsky, I.Y. (2011). "Osteology and relationships of Olorotitan arharensis, a hollowcrested hadrosaurid dinosaur from the latest Cretaceous of Far Eastern Russia." Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, (advance online publication) doi:10.4202/app.2011.0051
- 1 2 3 Alifanov, V. R.; Bolotsky, Y. L. (2010). "Arkharavia heterocoelica gen. et sp. nov., a new sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of far eastern Russia". Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal (in Russian) 2010 (1): 76–83.