German scientists from the Paleontological Museum in Munich, together with their Kyrgyz colleagues, have discovered a new species of predatory dinosaurs of the theropod group in the mountain-desert region near Tash-Kumyr town in western Kyrgyzstan. The creature was named Alpkarakush kyrgyzicus. The study was published in the scientific journal Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (ZJLS).
According to experts, Alpkarakush kyrgyzicus was the first theropod dinosaur found in Kyrgyzstan.
Paleontologists noted that Alpkarakush kyrgyzicus was named after the giant mythological bird Alpkarakush from the Kyrgyz heroic Manas epic.
The fossils were found in the Balbansai Formation, a Middle Jurassic deposit formed about 165 million years ago.
Analysis of the bones showed that the lizard was about nine meters long and had impressive «eyebrows» on the so-called postorbital bone, a skull bone behind the eye opening, which indicates the presence of a horn at that point.
Comparisons with numerous other theropods show that the new species belongs to the Metriacanthosauridae and is closely related to the large predatory dinosaurs of East Asia.
Paleontologists suggest that the Metriacanthosauridae and other important theropod groups originated in Southeast Asia, from where they spread to other continents via Central Asia and Europe.
