| Panguraptor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Diagram of skull | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Coelophysidae |
| Genus: | †Panguraptor Youet al.,2014[1] |
| Type species | |
| Panguraptor lufengensis Youet al., 2014 | |
Panguraptor ("Pangu [a Chinese god] plunderer") is agenus ofcoelophysidtheropoddinosaur known from fossils discovered inLower Jurassic rocks of southernChina. Thetype and only known species isPanguraptor lufengensis. The generic name refers to the deity Pangu but also to thesupercontinentPangaea for which in a geological context the same characters are used: 盘古.Raptor means "seizer", "robber" inLatin. Thespecific name is a reference to the Lufeng Formation. It was described in2014 by You Hai-Lu and colleagues.[1]
The specimen that would be namedPanguraptor was discovered by a survey team of the Bureau of Land and Resources ofLufeng County, China, on the hillside behind Xiaolishu Village, Lufeng Dinosaur Mountain Town. The team found the partially articulated skeleton exposed on the slope on 12 October 2007. Due to weathering, there was not time to slowly clean the skeleton, so it was glued andplastered on location over the course of two days before being shipped toLufeng World Dinosaur Valley. After four years it was inventoried and discovered to be a completetheropod skeleton, at which point it was cleaned and prepared over the course of a year.[2] In 2014 the fossil, catalogued as Bureau of Land and Resources of Lufeng County LFGT-0103, was described by Chinese paleontologistHailu You and colleagues as thetype specimen of the new theropodPanguraptor lufengensis. The name is derived from the creator of all reality in Chinese mythologyPangu, theLatin wordraptor for "thief" or "robber", and the Lufeng County.[1]
Sediments thatPanguraptor were found in correspond to the Shawan Member of theLufeng Formation. These beds have also been known as the Dull Purplish Beds of the Lower Lufeng Formation, and have been dated usingmagnetostratigraphy to the lateSinemurian to possiblyToarcian. Only the single specimen ofPanguraptor has been found, which includes a partially complete articulated skeleton with theskull, neck, and back, most of the rightforelimb, and bothhindlimbs.[1] It can be seen from the right side, and after being on display at Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley, it was exhibited at theHong Kong Science Museum from October 2013 to April 2014, before being returned to Lufeng World Dinosaur Valley for display in the exhibition hall.[1][2]
The holotype ofPanguraptor,LFGT-0103, is the partial articulated skeleton of a subadult individual, including the skull, lower jaws, presacral vertebrae, first sacral vertebra, parts of thepectoral girdle andpelvic girdle, a leftfemur and most of the right limb. This specimen is likely a sub-adult due to its small size (approximately 2 meters long in life), large orbit, and unfusedscapulocoracoids and astragalocalcaneum. However, it may have been close to adulthood due to having other bones which have fused.
The rather short skull is almost complete, although thepremaxilla and rostral edge of themaxilla are missing and thenasals are partially obscured. Theorbit is quite large but theantorbital fenestra is quite small. The exposed portions of the nasal are wide and smooth and do not show any sign of a sagittal crest present in some other basal theropods. Thejugal is positioned similarly to that ofC. rhodesiensis, although thequadratojugal is positioned more akin to that ofCoelophysis ("Megapnosaurus") kayentakatae. The rostral end of the lower jaw is missing. Teeth are preserved in thedentary and maxilla, and are slightly recurved yet unserrated.
The centra of the cervical vertebrae gradually increase in length from the third to seventh cervical, then decrease once more to the tenth (last) cervical. The dorsal vertebrae are more compressed than those ofCoelophysis bauri andC. rhodesiensis, and their neural spines are longer than they are high and so close to each other that they form a continuous wall along the dorsal vertebral column.
Thescapula is long, with a scapular blade with a straight caudal edge and concave cranial edge. The hand has four digits, with metacarpals I and II being the widest and metatarsals II and III being the longest. The first digit also has a flattened and recurved claw, the largest found in the holotype.
The rightilium, though incomplete, has a stout pubic peduncle a prominent supracetabular crest. Distal portions of bothischia are preserved, and are straight with broad ends.
The femur has a large and offset head and a longitudinal bulge on the caudolateral surface of the shaft. Thetibia andfibula are straight while theastragalus andcalcaneum are unfused. Only onetarsal is exposed (likely tarsal IV) along with right metatarsals III, IV, and V and a few pedal digits. Metatarsal III is very long while IV and V taper distally.
Panguraptor can be distinguished from other coelophysids by the following traits:
Youet al. performed aphylogenetic analysis and foundPanguraptor to be acoelophysidcoelophysoid, in a clade withCoelophysis bauri,Coelophysis rhodesiensis, andCamposaurus but not"Megapnosaurus"kayentakatae. Panguraptor was placed in this clade due to having a very acute angle between the horizontal and ascending processes of the maxilla, a blind pocket within the antorbital fossa, a short lateral lamina of thelacrimal, and the ascending process of the jugal making an angle less than 75 degrees with its longitudinal axis. Per this analysis,Panguraptor would be the first coelophysoid known from Asia. It is also the second definite theropod genus known from the Lufeng Formation, afterSinosaurus. Other small coelophysoid specimens such as FMNH CUP 2089 (some forelimb bones) and FMNH CUP 2090 (some hindlimb bones) recovered from the Lufeng formation may belong to this species, although they have been provisionally referred to"Megapnosaurus" kayetakatae until further analysis.[1] The phylogenetic analysis of Martínez and Apaldetti in 2017 addedPanguraptor, with it being recovered as a member of Coelophysidae.[3]
The recovery ofPanguraptor andCoelophysis rhodesiensis within Coelophysidae expands the content of the group inPangaea to Asia and Africa, particularly in the Early Jurassic. Though the fossil record is scarce, the distribution of coelophysidsendemic to the Americas in the Late Triassic before becoming globally distributed in the Early Jurassic may support the change fromfaunal regionalism to faunalhomogeneity at the beginning of the Jurassic.[3]
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