Pronunciation: me-EHR-ah-SOR-us
Meaning: Miera lizard
Author/s: Royo-Torres et al. (2017)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Utah, USA
Discovery Chart Position: #972
Mierasaurus bobyoungi
(Miera and Bob Young's lizard)Etymology
Mierasaurus is derived from "Miera" (for Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco, Spanish cartographer and chief scientist for the 1776 Domínguez-Escalante Expedition, who was the first European scientist to enter what is now Utah) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). The species epithet, bobyoungi, acknowledges the importance of the underappreciated research by Robert "Bob" Young on the Early Cretaceous of Utah.
ZooBank registry: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:E11B1673-A6F9-4F59-BB8D-74EB66FE8746.
Discovery
The remains of Mierasaurus were discovered in the Lower Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation in the "Gary's Island" area of the Doelling Bowl bonebed, Grand County, Utah, USA, in 2010.
The holotype (UMNH.VP.26004) is a sub-adult specimen consisting of a partial skull and jaw, teeth, atlas, 8 neck vertebrae and 11 neck ribs, 11 back vertebrae and 6 back ribs, 6 sacral ribs, 15 tail vertebrae and 2 chevrons, the right and partial left shoulder blade, left lower arm, left hand, a complete pelvis, both thighs, left shin, left shank, left ankle and left foot. The foot is buried in the sediment at a deeper level than the other remains, which suggests the specimen died after being mired in soft mud, and eventually fell apart where it stood.
Other disarticulated sauropod specimens from the type locality include a possible juvenile lower jaw bone (UMNH.VP.26010) and a juvenile thigh (UMNH.VP.26011). The iguanodont Iguanocolossus, the dromaeosaur Yurgovuchia, a new but as-yet undescribed species of polacanthid ankylosaur, and a large allosauroid theropod represented solely by teeth, all hail from the same member.
Preparators
S. Madsen, G. Hunt, N. Toth, J. Cavin, R. Hunt-Foster, and D. Brommel.
