Alpkarakush

Alpkarakush is an extinct genus of metriacanthosaurid theropod dinosaurs from the Jurassic Balabansai Formation of Kyrgyzstan. The genus contains a single species, A. kyrgyzicus, known from a partial skeleton.

== Discovery and naming == The Alpkarakush fossil material was discovered in sediments of the Balabansai Formation ('FTU-1' locality) in the Uurusai Valley near Tashkumyr in Jalal-Abad Oblast of Kyrgyzstan. Initial fieldwork at the locality was conducted in 2005 and 2006, during which two partial theropod skeletons were found. Further excavations in 2014 recovered additional material, followed by later work in 2016 and 2017. A 2023 expedition revisited the site and found even more material, including teeth and isolated bones. At least two individual animals are represented by the recovered bones, both of which are assigned to Alpkarakush. The holotype specimen consists of skull bones (both postorbitals and a quadratojugal), several partial dorsal vertebrae and five sacral vertebrae, some ribs, a manual phalanx and ungual (digit bone and claw), much of the pelvic girdle, and most of the hindlimbs (femora, tibiae, left fibula, astragalocalcanea, a left tarsal, metatarsals, a pedal phalanx, and two pedal unguals). The paratype specimen belongs to a smaller individual and consists of a partial pelvic girdle and the right tibia. At least seven isolated teeth and a furcula were found nearby and assigned to Alpkarakush, although the association of some of the teeth with this taxon is only tentative. All of the fossil material is housed at the Institute of Geology's Paleontological Collection, associated with the Kyrgyz National Academy of Sciences.