A New Theropod Dinosaur (Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Tajikistan

A new dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur, Kansaignathus sogdianus gen. et sp. nov., is described based on a dentary from the Yalovach Formation (Santonian) at Kansai locality in northern Fergana Valley (Tajikistan) collected by Paleontological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1963–1964. Dentary has 12 tooth alveoli and not downturned anterior end. There is a chin prominence. Dorsal margin is concave and ventral margin is convex. There are two rows of vascular foramina on the labial side and irregular intermediate foramina in the anterior part of a dentary. The interdental plates are not discernable. Kansaignathus is one of the most basal members of the subfamily Velociraptorinae. It fills the gap in the fossil record of the Velociraptorinae between the Early Cretaceous Deinonychus and more derived Campanian–Maastrichtian velociraptorines of Asia and North America.