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Citipes
Citipes (/ˈsɪtipɛz/) is an extinct genus of caenagnathid theropod from the Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada. The genus contains only one species, the type species, C. elegans. The generic name of Citipes is Latin for "fleet-footed", and the specific epithet "elegans" is Latin for "elegant". The type specimen of Citipes has a convoluted taxonomic history, and has been previously assigned to the genera Ornithomimus, Macrophalangia, Elmisaurus, Chirostenotes, and Leptorhynchos before being given its own genus in 2020.
The material which would eventually be named Citipes was discovered in 1926 during one of the University of Toronto's expeditions to the Sand Creek area of the Red Deer River. This locality was a part of the Belly River Group, which is now recognized as the Dinosaur Park Formation. However, it would be another seven years before a full description of this material was published in the University of Toronto's geology journal in 1933 by Dr. William A. Parks. The material, consisting of three metatarsals, was reposited at the Royal Ontario Museum and was given the designation ROM 781.
It was named as a new species of the common genus Ornithomimus — Ornithomimus elegans. This name was assigned based on three metatarsals, which were believed to belong to an ornithomimosaur because of the lack of a fifth metatarsal bone. Oviraptorosauria was not yet recognized as a unique clade, and several oviraptorans, including Oviraptor and Chirostenotes, were believed to be ornithomimids. It would not be until 1976 that oviraptorosaurs became recognized as their own unique clade.
ROM 781 was reassigned to the dubious genus Macrophalangia by Dale Russell in 1972. However, this genus was made a junior synonym of Chirostenotes a few years later.
A more thorough re-examination of ROM 781 was conducted in 1988 by Philip J. Currie, who published a re-description of the material in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. Currie referred the specimen to a new species in the recently described genus Elmisaurus — Elmisaurus elegans. He also referred two new specimens to the species. The first of these new specimens, ROM 37163, consists of a partial metatarsus and was collected sometime between the years of 1920 and 1954 by an expedition of the Royal Ontario Museum. The second, TMP 82.39.4, consists of another partial tarsometatarsus, and it was collected in 1982 by Linda Strong-Watson. Both of these specimens were discovered in the Dinosaur Park Formation and resembled the holotype enough to warrant referral.
Elmisaurus elegans was distinguished from the type species, E. rarus, by the presence of a weaker ridge on the fourth metatarsal bone, and a process on the distal ends of metatarsals II and IV. At the time of this publication, there was an ongoing debate about the validity of the caenagnathid genera Chirostenotes, Caenagnathus, and Elmisaurus, and Currie used his re-description of ROM 781 to argue that Elmisaurus was a distinct and valid genus.
The classification of ROM 781 was amended again in 1997 by Hans-Dieter Sues in 1997 when he published an extensive monograph describing a newly discovered specimen of the genus Chirostenotes. In his monograph, Sues referred Elmisaurus elegans to the genus Chirostenotes as the new species C. elegans, and he also regarded the genera Caenagnathus and Elmisaurus as subjective junior synonyms of Chirostenotes. Some specimens were referred to C. pergracilis and others to the newly erected C. elegans. Sues distinguished C. elegans from C. pergracilis by the presence of co-ossification of the second and fourth metatarsals, and it was included in the genus because Sues regarded Chirostenotes as the only valid caenagnathid genus in Campanian Laramidia.
In 2013, accompanying their description of the genus Leptorhynchos, Nicholas Longrich, Ken Barnes, Scott Clark, and Larry Millar, referred ROM 781 to their newly described genus. Their reasoning for this reassignment was the referral of additional specimens — TMP 1992.36.390, TMP 1979.8.622, TMP 1991.144.1 (all lower jaw fragments), and TMP 1982.39.4 (a partial tarsometatarsus) — to the species based on their small size in comparison with all other described caenagnathids. Hagryphus, Caenagnathus, and Chirostenotes were all much larger than the newly named Leptorhynchos, and so they moved Chirostenotes pergracilis to the new genus as the species Leptorhynchos elegans. Longrich and colleagues distinguished L. elegans from the type species, L. gaddisi, by the presence of a strongly upturned beak tip and a chin that is square-shaped in lateral view.
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Citipes
Citipes (/ˈsɪtipɛz/) is an extinct genus of caenagnathid theropod from the Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada. The genus contains only one species, the type species, C. elegans. The generic name of Citipes is Latin for "fleet-footed", and the specific epithet "elegans" is Latin for "elegant". The type specimen of Citipes has a convoluted taxonomic history, and has been previously assigned to the genera Ornithomimus, Macrophalangia, Elmisaurus, Chirostenotes, and Leptorhynchos before being given its own genus in 2020.
The material which would eventually be named Citipes was discovered in 1926 during one of the University of Toronto's expeditions to the Sand Creek area of the Red Deer River. This locality was a part of the Belly River Group, which is now recognized as the Dinosaur Park Formation. However, it would be another seven years before a full description of this material was published in the University of Toronto's geology journal in 1933 by Dr. William A. Parks. The material, consisting of three metatarsals, was reposited at the Royal Ontario Museum and was given the designation ROM 781.
It was named as a new species of the common genus Ornithomimus — Ornithomimus elegans. This name was assigned based on three metatarsals, which were believed to belong to an ornithomimosaur because of the lack of a fifth metatarsal bone. Oviraptorosauria was not yet recognized as a unique clade, and several oviraptorans, including Oviraptor and Chirostenotes, were believed to be ornithomimids. It would not be until 1976 that oviraptorosaurs became recognized as their own unique clade.
ROM 781 was reassigned to the dubious genus Macrophalangia by Dale Russell in 1972. However, this genus was made a junior synonym of Chirostenotes a few years later.
A more thorough re-examination of ROM 781 was conducted in 1988 by Philip J. Currie, who published a re-description of the material in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. Currie referred the specimen to a new species in the recently described genus Elmisaurus — Elmisaurus elegans. He also referred two new specimens to the species. The first of these new specimens, ROM 37163, consists of a partial metatarsus and was collected sometime between the years of 1920 and 1954 by an expedition of the Royal Ontario Museum. The second, TMP 82.39.4, consists of another partial tarsometatarsus, and it was collected in 1982 by Linda Strong-Watson. Both of these specimens were discovered in the Dinosaur Park Formation and resembled the holotype enough to warrant referral.
Elmisaurus elegans was distinguished from the type species, E. rarus, by the presence of a weaker ridge on the fourth metatarsal bone, and a process on the distal ends of metatarsals II and IV. At the time of this publication, there was an ongoing debate about the validity of the caenagnathid genera Chirostenotes, Caenagnathus, and Elmisaurus, and Currie used his re-description of ROM 781 to argue that Elmisaurus was a distinct and valid genus.
The classification of ROM 781 was amended again in 1997 by Hans-Dieter Sues in 1997 when he published an extensive monograph describing a newly discovered specimen of the genus Chirostenotes. In his monograph, Sues referred Elmisaurus elegans to the genus Chirostenotes as the new species C. elegans, and he also regarded the genera Caenagnathus and Elmisaurus as subjective junior synonyms of Chirostenotes. Some specimens were referred to C. pergracilis and others to the newly erected C. elegans. Sues distinguished C. elegans from C. pergracilis by the presence of co-ossification of the second and fourth metatarsals, and it was included in the genus because Sues regarded Chirostenotes as the only valid caenagnathid genus in Campanian Laramidia.
In 2013, accompanying their description of the genus Leptorhynchos, Nicholas Longrich, Ken Barnes, Scott Clark, and Larry Millar, referred ROM 781 to their newly described genus. Their reasoning for this reassignment was the referral of additional specimens — TMP 1992.36.390, TMP 1979.8.622, TMP 1991.144.1 (all lower jaw fragments), and TMP 1982.39.4 (a partial tarsometatarsus) — to the species based on their small size in comparison with all other described caenagnathids. Hagryphus, Caenagnathus, and Chirostenotes were all much larger than the newly named Leptorhynchos, and so they moved Chirostenotes pergracilis to the new genus as the species Leptorhynchos elegans. Longrich and colleagues distinguished L. elegans from the type species, L. gaddisi, by the presence of a strongly upturned beak tip and a chin that is square-shaped in lateral view.