Urbacodon

Taxobox
name = "Urbacodon"
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Saurischia
subordo = Theropoda
infraordo = Deinonychosauria
familia = Troodontidae
genus = "Urbacodon"
genus_authority=Averianov & Sues, 2007
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"U. itemirensis" Averianov & Sues, 2007 (type)

"Urbacodon" ("URBAC tooth") is a genus of troodontid dinosaur, a type of small carnivore. It lived in Uzbekistan during the early Late Cretaceous Period, about 95 million years ago. The first part of the name "Urbacodon" is an acronym, honouring the Uzbek, Russian, British, American and Canadian scientists who participated in its discovery. The type species, "U. itemirensis", was named by Alexander Averianov and Hans-Dieter Sues in 2007 on the basis of a single left dentary with teeth from the Cenomanian Dzharakuduk Formation. Averianov and Sues also identified teeth as "Urbacodon" sp. from the nearby Turonian Bissekty Formation.cite journal |last=Averianov |first=A.O. |coauthors=and Sues, H.-D. |year=2007 |title=A new troodontid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Cenomanian of Uzbekistan, with a review of troodontid records from the territories of the former Soviet Union |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=87–98 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27 [87:ANTDTF] 2.0.CO;2 |doilabel=10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[87:ANTDTF]2.0.CO;2]

The holotype dentary of "U. itemirensis" is 79.2 millimetres long (3.12 in) and has 32 teeth. "Urbacodon" resembles "Byronosaurus" and "Mei" but differs from most other Troodontidae in that its teeth lack serrations. It is distinguished from "Byronosaurus" by a less vascularized lateral dentary groove and more bulbous anterior tooth crowns, and from "Mei" by considerably larger size. Averianov and Sues viewed "Urbacodon" as more plesiomorphic than "Troodon" and "Saurornithoides" in having a straight dentary with fewer teeth, but did not attempt to place it on a cladogram.

References