''Rinchenia'' (named after

Byambyn Rinchen Yenshööbü ovogt Byambyn Rinchen ( mn, Еншөөбү овогт Бямбын Ринчен, , , 25 December 1905 – 4 March 1977), also known in Russian as Rinchin-Dorzhi Radnazhapovich Bimbaev (russian: Ринчин-Доржи Раднаж ...

) is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

oviraptorid Oviraptoridae is a group of bird-like, herbivorous and omnivorous maniraptoran dinosaurs. Oviraptorids are characterized by their toothless, parrot-like beaks and, in some cases, elaborate crests. They were generally small, measuring between one ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

that lived in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

during 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 ...

epoch in what is now

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Nemegt Formation The Nemegt Formation (also known as Nemegtskaya Svita) is a geological formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, dating to the Late Cretaceous. The formation consists of river channel sediments and contains fossils of fish, turtles, crocodilian ...

, around 70 million years ago. The type and only known species, ''Rinchenia mongoliensis'', was originally classified as a species within the genus ''

Oviraptor ''Oviraptor'' (; ) is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period. The first remains were collected from the Djadokhta Formation of Mongolia in 1923 during a paleontological expedition led by Roy Chapman ...

'' (named ''Oviraptor mongoliensis''), but a subsequent rexamination found differences significant enough to warrant a separate genus. The name ''Rinchenia'' was coined for this new genus, though not formally described in detail.

History of discovery

During 1984, a nearly complete oviraptorid skeleton was discovered at the Altan Uul II (or Altan Ula II) locality of the highly fossiliferous

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast an ...

. This newly collected specimen, MPC-D 100/32-A, included the skull and lower jaws in their entirety, nearly complete vertebral column, forelimbs with shoulder girdle, and partial hindlimbs with pelvic girdle. Later on,

n paleontologist

Rinchen Barsbold , Rinchyengiin Barsbold, born December 21, 1935 in Ulaanbaatar) is a Mongolian paleontologist and geologist. He works with the Institute of Geology, at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He is an expert in vertebrate paleontology and Mesozoic stratigraphy. Bar ...

in 1986 used the specimen to erect and describe a new species of ''

'': ''Oviraptor mongoliensis''. Barsbold in 1997 assigned a new genus for the specimen, namely ''Rinchenia''. Although concluding that it was distinctly different from ''Oviraptor'' in both skull and skeleton characters, Barsbold did not include a formal diagnosis for this new taxon. Halszka Osmólska with colleagues in 2004 during their large revision of several dinosaur clades preferred the combination ''R. mongoliensis'' over the previously named ''O. mongoliensis'', also regarding the latter as a synonym. In 2018, Gregory F. Funston and team conducted a comprehensive revision of the at-the-time known oviraptorosaur taxa across the

Barun Goyot Formation The Barun Goyot Formation (also known as Baruungoyot Formation or West Goyot Formation) is a geological formation dating to the Late Cretaceous Period. It is located within and is widely represented in the Gobi Desert Basin, in the Ömnögovi Pro ...

and Nemegt Formation, where they formally described, photographed, and diagnosed ''Rinchenia'' based on the assigned

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

MPC-D 100/32-A. The team also stated that even though the locality of the holotype is known, the exact site of discovery and horizon remains unknown. Funston in his 2019 master thesis described in extensive detail the holotype of ''Rinchenia'', along with other oviraptorids, where he provided additional data regarding the name of the taxon. The generic name, ''Rinchenia'', is in honor of

, veteran

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and father of Barsbold. The specific name, ''mongoliensis'', refers to the country where the holotype was found: Mongolia.

Description

''Rinchenia'' was a small-sized oviraptorid, estimated at and a body mass of about . Several features of its skeleton, especially in the skull, show it to be distinct from ''Oviraptor''. Its skeleton was more lightly built and less robust than that of ''Oviraptor'', and while the crest of ''Oviraptor'' is indistinct because of poor fossil preservation, ''Rinchenia'' had a well-preserved, highly developed,

cassowary Cassowaries ( tpi, muruk, id, kasuari) are flightless birds of the genus ''Casuarius'' in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites (flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bones) and are native to the tropical forest ...

-like casque/dome which incorporated many bones in the skull that are free of the crest in ''Oviraptor''.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q133177 Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia Nemegt fauna Oviraptorids Fossil taxa described in 2004 Taxa named by Halszka Osmólska Taxa named by Philip J. Currie Taxa named by Rinchen Barsbold

History of discovery

Description

See also

References

External links