Pronunciation: UE-UE-CANA-UHh-TLUS
Meaning: Ancient Duck
Author/s: Ramírez-Velasco (2012)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Michoacán, Mexico
Discovery Chart Position: #798
Huehuecanauhtlus tiquichensis
If you thought Huehuecanauhtlus was named after an Aztec God you would be wrong, though we can understand why you would jump to such a conclusion. Several Aztec deities were pre-fixed with "Huehue" (literally "old old" or commonly "ancient"): Huehuecoyotl was "Ancient Coyote", the old old trickster God of irrational fun, and Huehueteotle was just the old old God. Huehuecanauhtlus is an old old hadrosauroid, the southern-most diagnostic basal hadrosauroid from the Americas, no less, but it's teetering on the brink of Hadrosauridae proper.
(Ancient Duck)Etymology
Huehuecanauhtlus is derived from the Náhuatl "Huehue" (literally old old, very old, or plain ancient) and "canauhtli" (duck), in reference to its position as one of the oldest hadrosaurs or "duck-billed" dinosaurs. The species epithet, tiquichensis, honors the town of Tiquicheo, for the generosity and hospitality of its people during the fieldwork season.
Discovery
The remains of Huehuecanauhtlus were collected from "the sixth spot" in the Barranca Los Bonetes locality, Tuzantla, Michoacán ("place of the fishermen") State, southwestern Mexico.
The holotype (IGM 6253) is a fragmentary skull and skeleton, including parts of the left upper and lower jaw, vertebrae from the neck, back and tail with associated ribs and spines, and some hip bones, while teeth and a piece of left lower jaw (IGM 6254), from a smaller individual, represent the paratype.
Hadrosauroid fossils were first discovered at Barranca Los Bonetes by Mouloud Benammi et al. in May of 2003, and more have been discovered since. But a lack of diognostic features means none of them can be assigned to Huehuecanauhtlus, or any other critter for that matter.
