Haya (dinosaur)
Encyclopedia
Haya is an extinct genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of basal
Basal (phylogenetics)
In phylogenetics, a basal clade is the earliest clade to branch in a larger clade; it appears at the base of a cladogram.A basal group forms an outgroup to the rest of the clade, such as in the following example:...

 ornithopod
Ornithopod
Ornithopods or members of the clade Ornithopoda are a group of ornithischian dinosaurs that started out as small, bipedal running grazers, and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world, and dominated the North American...

 dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

 known from Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...

.

Description

Haya is known from several well-preserved specimens which collected in the Khugenetslavkant locality by the joint Mongolian Academy of Sciences from 2002 to 2007, from the Javkhlant Formation. The locality probably dates to the Santonian
Santonian
The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series. It spans the time between 85.8 ± 0.7 mya and 83.5 ± 0.7 mya...

 stage of the Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...

. The holotype
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 IGM 100/2017 is composed of a complete and well preserved skull
Skull
The skull is a bony structure in the head of many animals that supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.The skull is composed of two parts: the cranium and the mandible. A skull without a mandible is only a cranium. Animals that have skulls are called craniates...

 with some postcrania
Postcrania
Postcrania[p] in zoology and vertebrate paleontology refers to all or part of the skeleton apart from the skull. Frequently, fossil remains, e.g...

l elements associated to it. Referred materials include IGM 100/1324, isolated left femur
Femur
The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...

, IGM 100/2013, postcranial elements, IGM 100/2014, a crushed skull and postcranial elements, IGM 100/2015, a nearly complete postcranial skeleton, IGM 100/2016, a partial juvenile skull, IGM 100/2018, an isolated mandible
Mandible
The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...

 with some teeth, IGM 100/2019, a nearly complete skull and skeleton and IGM 100/2020, postcranial fragments. One skeleton of Haya, IGM 100/2015, preserves a large mass of gastrolith
Gastrolith
A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stones, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths are retained in the muscular gizzard and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. The grain size depends upon the size of the animal and the gastrolith's...

s. A cladistic analysis found it to form a clade with Jeholosaurus
Jeholosaurus
Jeholosaurus is a genus of ornithischian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period. It is thought to have been a small ornithopod presumably related to the hypsilophodonts, and an herbivore. Although the back teeth are like those of a plant eater, the front premaxillary teeth are sharp and pointed...

and Changchunsaurus
Changchunsaurus
Changchunsaurus is an extinct genus of small herbivorous ornithopod dinosaur from Early Cretaceous deposits of Gongzhuling, Jilin, China. It is the first named dinosaur genus from Jilin.-Description:...

within Ornithopoda.

Etymology

Haya was first named by Peter J. Makovicky, Brandon M. Kilbourne, Rudyard W. Sadleir and Mark A. Norell in 2011
2011 in paleontology
-Lobopods:-Arachnids:-Insects:-Newly named jawless vertebrates:-Newly named acanthodian:-Newly named cartilaginous fishes:-Newly named bony fishes:-Newly named lepospondyls:-Newly named temnospondyls:-Newly named lissamphibians:...

 and the type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 is Haya griva. The generic name and the specific name are derived from the Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 for the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

deity Hayagriva, which characterized by a horse head. It refers to the elongate horse-like skull of this Haya and the appearance of this deity in the Buddhist art of Mongolia.
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