
Siats
Sign in to saveSiats (/see-ats/) is an extinct genus of large theropod dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation (Mussentuchit Member) of Utah, United States. The genus contains a single species, Siats meekerorum. It was initially classified as a megaraptoran, a clade of large theropods with controversial relationships. Alternative positions within the Neovenatoridae, Allosauroidea, and Tyrannosauroidea have also been proposed.
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Discovery and naming
- Description
- Classification
- References
Siats (/see-ats/) is an extinct genus of large theropod dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation (Mussentuchit Member) of Utah, United States. The genus contains a single species, Siats meekerorum. It was initially classified as a megaraptoran, a clade of large theropods with controversial relationships. Alternative positions within the Neovenatoridae, Allosauroidea, and Tyrannosauroidea have also been proposed.
== Discovery and naming == thumb|left|Dorsal vertebra Siats was described by Lindsay E. Zanno and Peter J. Makovicky in 2013. The generic name references a man-eating monster in Ute mythology. The specific name meekerorum honors the geologist John Caldwell Meeker and his family for their support of paleontological research.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Siats” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.