Osteology and phylogenetic relationships of the mid-Cretaceous neornithischian dinosaur Oryctodromeus cubicularis Varricchio, 2007

Abstract

ABSTRACT The vertebrate assemblages of the Albian to Cenomanian Wayan Formation of southeastern Idaho and southwestern Montana’s coeval Vaughn Member of the Blackleaf Formation are dominated by the small, burrowing orodromine dinosaur Oryctodromeus cubicularis. Here, we describe in detail the osteology of Oryctodromeus based on new specimens from Idaho and Montana that add substantially to the preliminary description of the types from Montana, and provide a suite of additional diagnostic characters for the taxon: ilium with elongate preacetabular process; elongate cervical vertebra centra with an anteroposterior length 1.6 times the dorsoventral height; elongate dorsal vertebra centra with an anteroposterior length 1.4 times the dorsoventral height; more than 55 elongate caudal vertebrae enveloped in hypaxial and epaxial ossified tendons; and a femoral head on an elongate neck—similar to that of Koreanosaurus—projecting from the greater trochanter at about 35°. The tail, comprising two-thirds of the animal’s roughly 3 meters length, and associated tendon sheaths in the axial column indicate greater flexibility than previously supposed for ossified tendons or, alternatively, suggest that the Oryctodromeus burrows had separate, or multiple entrances and exits. The elongated and angled femoral head likely facilitated digging via a braced splayed-leg posture. Our phylogenetic analysis incorporates new characteristics and supports the monophyly of Orodrominae, a clade of neornithischian dinosaurs from the middle to Late Cretaceous of Asia and western North America that utilized burrowing.