Psittacosaurus amitabha, Napoli & Hunt & Erickson & Norell, 2019

Napoli, James G., Hunt, Tyler, Erickson, Gregory M. & Norell, Mark A., 2019, Psittacosaurus amitabha, a New Species of Ceratopsian Dinosaur from the Ondai Sayr Locality, Central Mongolia, American Museum Novitates 2019 (3932), pp. 1-36 : 3-6

Psittacosaurus amitabha , sp. nov.

ETYMOLOGY: The celestial Amitabha Buddha is the Buddha of infinite light, and one of his attributes is extreme longevity ( fig. 1 ). Amitabha is the principal Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism and is highly venerated in Mongolia.

HOLOTYPE: IGM 100 /1132, a nearly complete, undistorted skull with an associated partial mandible and fragmentary postcranial elements. The specimen was discovered by M.A. Norell and J.M. Clark. All elements represented in IGM 100 /1132 are listed in appendix 1, and select measurements are given in table 1 .

TYPE LOCALITY: Ondai Sayr, Ussuk, Tsaagan Nor basin, Central Mongolia ( fig. 2 ). The Ondai Sayr locality has also been considered the Andakhuduk Formation ( Jerzykiewicz, 2000). The age of the locality is generally considered to be Barremian ( Jerzykiewicz and Russell, 1991). Other dinosaurian remains have been found at this locality, including juvenile specimens of Psittacosaurus ( Coombs, 1982) , but vertebrate fossils are extremely rare (M.A.N., personal obs.). A list of all American Museum of Natural History specimens from the Ondai Sayr locality is presented in appendix 2.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A 19th-century Mongolian depiction of the Amitabha Buddha.

FIGURE 2: Map of Mongolia, showing the location of the Ondai Sayr locality from which IGM 100/1132 was recovered.