First Non-Avian Dinosaur From Tajikistan

[austrosaurus]

A new genus of dromaeosaur, Kansaignathus sogdianus, is the first named species of non-avian dinosaur from the central Asian nation of Tajikistan. From the mid-late Cretaceous Yalovacska Formation, it is known from a single dentary (hence the -gnathus suffix) which was discovered in the 1960's. The phylogenetic analysis recovered it as a basal velociraptorine. The paper hasn't appeared online yet, but there is an article from the Russian Palaeontological Institute celebrating the discovery: https://www.paleo.ru/institute/scientific_work/progress/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=14544

[Halichoeres]

Thanks for sharing. I got curious, and there are some amazing plant and invertebrate fossils from Tajikistan, especially from the Triassic. Yet this jawbone is the first time I've ever seen Tajik paleontology in the news. I wonder why!