| Suskityrannus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reconstructed skeleton at the Dinokingdom exhibition,Chiba | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Tyrannoraptora |
| Superfamily: | †Tyrannosauroidea |
| Clade: | †Pantyrannosauria |
| Genus: | †Suskityrannus |
| Species: | †S. hazelae |
| Binomial name | |
| †Suskityrannus hazelae Nesbitt et al., 2019 | |
Suskityrannus (meaning "coyote tyrant",suski meaning "coyote" inZuni) is a genus of smalltyrannosauroidtheropod from theLate Cretaceous of southernLaramidia. It contains a single species,Suskityrannus hazelae, and the type specimen was found in theTuronian-agedMoreno Hill Formation of theZuni Basin in westernNew Mexico.[2]
First mentioned as a smalldromaeosaurid by Wolfe and Kirkland in their description ofZuniceratops,[3]Suskityrannus was informally referred to as the "Zuni coelurosaur",[4] "Zuni tyrannosaur",[5] and by the 2011 documentaryPlanet Dinosaur "Zunityrannus" prior to its scientific description.[6]
The original fossils were found in 1998 by Robert Denton, a professional geologist from Virginia, and a native Mesa teenSterling Nesbitt, who was a museum volunteer that came to a dig with paleontologistDoug Wolfe.[7][8][9]
In 2019Suskityrannus was formally described as a genus of primitive tyrannosauroid.[2][10] Both theholotype specimen MSM P4754 (partially articulated skull and a few postcranial bones) and theparatype specimen MSM P6178 (partially articulated and associated remains including a few skull bones and an incomplete postcranial skeleton) are preserved in the collections of theArizona Museum of Natural History, and they both show the phylogenetically earliest knownarctometatarsalian foot in tyrannosauroids.[2]
Suskityrannus is a small tyrannosaur, with the skull of known specimens measuring 25–32 cm (9.8–12.6 in) long, which grew similarly to earliertyrannosauroids likeGuanlong.[2] The holotype and the paratype belong to young individuals that didn't reach skeletal maturity, but the histological analyses revealed that the bone tissues and vascularization are different from those found in young individuals of large-bodiedtyrannosaurids during theCampanian-Maastrichtian age, so the adults would have been significantly smaller than mature tyrannosaurids.[2]
Suskityrannus filled the major phylogenetic, morphological and temporal gaps that researchers needed to piece togethertyrannosauroid evolution.[11] Below is the phylogenetic analysis on the placement ofSuskityrannus.[2]
Specimens ofSuskityrannus are known from theMoreno Hill Formation which documents a time of tectonic upheaval, volcanic activities, humid paleoclimate, and North American coastal margin shifts.[1] Other dinosaurs fossils recovered from this formation areZuniceratops,Nothronychus,Jeyawati, and undescribedankylosaur remains.[12] Three groups of turtle fossils have been reported: abaenidEdowa, ahelochelydridNaomichelys and an indeterminatetrionychid.[13] Other vertebrate fossils includecrocodyliform teeth,amiid teeth andgar scales.[3][13]
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