''Dzharaonyx'' (meaning "Dzharakuduk claw", named after the type locality) is a genus of

alvarezsaurid Alvarezsauridae is a family of small, long-legged dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, they are now thought to be an early diverging branch of maniraptoran theropods. Alvarezsaurids were highly ...

theropod dinosaur from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

Bissekty Formation The Bissekty Formation (sometimes referred to as Bissekt) is a geologic formation and Lagerstätte which crops out in the Kyzyl Kum desert of Uzbekistan, and dates to the Late Cretaceous Period. Laid down in the mid to late Turonian, it is dated ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

is ''Dzharaonyx eski''; ''eski'' being an Uzbek word for "old".

Description

''Dzharaonyx'' is known from a series of disassociated but well-preserved postcranial material. The form of the humerus is intermediate between that of ''

Patagonykus ''Patagonykus'' (meaning "Patagonian claw") is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina. This alvarezsauroid was discovered in exposures of the Portezuelo Formation (Turonian-Coniacian) of the Rio Neuquén Subgroup in ...

'' and ''

Mononykus ''Mononykus'' ( , sometimes ; meaning "one claw") is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Asia on the Nemegt Formation, about 70 million years ago. ''Mononykus'' was a very small theropod, estim ...

''.

Classification

Phylogenetic analysis places ''Dzharaonyx'' in a polytomy including other Asian members of

Parvicursorinae Alvarezsauridae is a family of small, long-legged dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, they are now thought to be an early diverging branch of maniraptoran theropods. Alvarezsaurids were highly ...

. This makes it the oldest parvicursorine known to date.

Paleoenvironment

''Dzharaonyx'' lived in the Bissekty Formation, which has been intensively studied in recent years. It represents a

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

environment. It coexisted with larger theropods including the dromaeosaurid ''

Itemirus ''Itemirus'' is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Turonian age of the Late Cretaceous period of Uzbekistan. Discovery ''Itemirus'' is known from a single small damaged fossil braincase or neurocranium, in 1958 found near the ...

'', the tyrannosauroid ''

Timurlengia ''Timurlengia'' is an extinct genus of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaur found in Uzbekistan, in the Bissekty Formation in the Kyzylkum Desert, hailing from the Turonian age of the early Late Cretaceous. The type species is ''Timurlengia euotica'' ...

'', and the troodontid ''

Urbacodon ''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. On 9 September 2004, a lower jaw of a small theropod w ...

''. The hadrosaur ''

Levnesovia ''Levnesovia'' is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. It was related to ''Bactrosaurus''. The type species is ''L. transoxiana''. The genus name honours the late Russian paleontologist Lev ...

'', ankylosaurs, and the sauropod ''

Dzharatitanis ''Dzharatitanis'' (meaning "Dzharakuduk titan") is a genus of sauropod from the Bissekty Formation in Uzbekistan, dating to the Turonian age of the Late Cretaceous. The genus contains a single species, ''Dzharatitanis kingi,'' named after geologis ...

'' represented the herbivores in this ecosystem.

References

{{Portalbar, Paleontology, Cretaceous Bissekty Formation Alvarezsaurids Fossil taxa described in 2022