Hulsanpes

Hulsanpes
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 70Ma
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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Euornithes
Genus: †Hulsanpes
Osmólska, 1982
Species: † H. perlei
Binomial name
Hulsanpes perlei
Osmólska, 1982

Hulsanpes is the name given to a monotypic genus of theropods, sometimes considered a primitive bird. First described as a dromaeosaur, it lived during the Late Cretaceous. Its fossil remains were found in the (probably) Campanian (roughly 80-71 mya) Barun Goyot Formation at Khulsan, Ömnögovi Province, Mongolia. The generic name means "foot from Khulsan", from the Latinized name of the type locality (Hulsan) + Latin pēs, "foot". The specific name honors Mongolian paleontologist Altangerel Perle.

The type species, Hulsanpes perlei, based on a partial foot skeleton of an apparently immature individual, was described by Osmolska in 1982. Several features of the fossil are very primitive and dinosaur-like, but this might partly be due to the young age of the individual. Still, more material is needed before H. perlei can be assigned to any one lineage with certainty. Although usually considered an enantiornithine or other primitive avian initially, it looks somewhat like a miniature Velociraptor mongoliensis.[1] And though these traits are plesiomorphic, it might still belong to another, non-avian, maniraptoran lineage altogether,[2] perhaps being troodontid, perhaps dromaeosaurid. It has also been considered to be a velociraptorine dromaeosaur. Pending a comparison with other more recently discovered taxa, all that can presently be said is that it is some sort of maniraptoran.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Currie (2000)
  2. ↑ Norell in Currie (2000)

References