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Description

Today we have a Russian dinosaur, so far the only one in my entire gallery. Kileskus aristotocus, a proceratosaurid from the middle Jurassic of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. This is the oldest known tyrannosauroid at the moment.

Kileskus was described by A. Averianov, S. Krasnolutsky and S. Ivantsov in 2010 on the basis of scattered material from the Berezovsky quarry. There are preserved maxilla with premaxilla, partial dentary with tooth and associated postcranial fragments. The dinosaur is characterized by features such as a large and long nostril and a large sinus above the upper dentition. Kileskus shares them with the English Proceratosaurus bradleyi, known from a single skull. Proceratosaurus has preserved the base of the cranial crest, and it is believed that the Russian taxon also had it, despite the absence of preserved signs of this structure. Averianov and colleagues established the family Proceratosauridae for Kileskus and Proceratosaurus, adding the Chinese "crowned dragon" Guanlong wucaii to it as well.

Kileskus was a medium-sized predator and shared habitat with the as-yet unnamed stegosaurid, mamenchisaurid sauropods, small ornithischians, and a whole galaxy of small mammals. Among this diversity, it has found its food. The discovery of such an early tyrannosauroid in Russia is extremely important for understanding species diversity in a poorly studied time period, the middle Jurassic.

2B technical pencil, 2019.

Description

Today we have a Russian dinosaur, so far the only one in my entire gallery. Kileskus aristotocus, a proceratosaurid from the middle Jurassic of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. This is the oldest known tyrannosauroid at the moment.

Kileskus was described by A. Averianov, S. Krasnolutsky and S. Ivantsov in 2010 on the basis of scattered material from the Berezovsky quarry. There are preserved maxilla with premaxilla, partial dentary with tooth and associated postcranial fragments. The dinosaur is characterized by features such as a large and long nostril and a large sinus above the upper dentition. Kileskus shares them with the English Proceratosaurus bradleyi, known from a single skull. Proceratosaurus has preserved the base of the cranial crest, and it is believed that the Russian taxon also had it, despite the absence of preserved signs of this structure. Averianov and colleagues established the family Proceratosauridae for Kileskus and Proceratosaurus, adding the Chinese "crowned dragon" Guanlong wucaii to it as well.

Kileskus was a medium-sized predator and shared habitat with the as-yet unnamed stegosaurid, mamenchisaurid sauropods, small ornithischians, and a whole galaxy of small mammals. Among this diversity, it has found its food. The discovery of such an early tyrannosauroid in Russia is extremely important for understanding species diversity in a poorly studied time period, the middle Jurassic.

2B technical pencil, 2019.