View source for Effigia

{{Short description|Extinct genus of Archosaurs}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Rhaetian}}<small>[[Late Triassic]]</small>
| image = Effigia skull diagram.png
| image_upright = 1.15
| image_caption = Skull diagram
| display_parents = 4
| taxon = Effigia
| authority = [[Sterling Nesbitt|Nesbitt]] and [[Mark A. Norell|Norell]], [[2006 in paleontology|2006]]
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = * {{extinct}}'''''E. okeeffeae''''' <small>Nesbitt and Norell, 2006 ([[Type species|type]])</small>
}}
'''''Effigia''''' was an [[Extinction|extinct]] [[genus]] of [[Shuvosauridae|shuvosaurid]] known from the [[Late Triassic]] of [[New Mexico]], south-western USA. With a bipedal stance, long neck, and a toothless beaked skull, ''Effigia'' and other shuvosaurids bore a resemblance to the [[ornithomimidae|ornithomimid]] [[Dinosaur|dinosaurs]] of the [[Cretaceous|Cretaceous Period]]. However, shuvosaurids were not dinosaurs, but were instead a specialized family of [[Poposauroidea|poposauroid]] [[Pseudosuchia|pseudosuchians]], meaning that their closest living relatives are [[crocodilians]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Nesbitt |first1=Sterling J |last2=Norell |first2=Mark A |date=2006-05-07 |title=Extreme convergence in the body plans of an early suchian (Archosauria) and ornithomimid dinosaurs (Theropoda) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7178694 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=273 |issue=1590 |pages=1045–1048 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2005.3426 |pmc=1560254 |pmid=16600879}}</ref><ref name="nesbitt2007" /><ref name="Nesbitt11">{{cite journal |last=Nesbitt |first=Sterling J. |date=2011 |title=The Early Evolution of Archosaurs: Relationships and the Origin of Major Clades |url=https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/6112 |journal=[[Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History]] |volume=352 |pages=1–292 |doi=10.1206/352.1 |hdl=2246/6112 |s2cid=83493714|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Discovery==
[[File:Effigia Scale.svg|thumb|left|Size comparison]]
The 2-meter (6 ft 7 in) [[holotype]] [[fossil]] was collected by [[Edwin H. Colbert]] in 1947.<ref name="nesbitt2007" /> At this time Colbert led an excavation to collect blocks of rock from the Whitaker Quarry of [[Ghost Ranch]], near [[Abiquiú, New Mexico|Abiquiu, New Mexico]]. Colbert's expedition intended to recover abundant fossils of the [[Basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] [[Theropoda|theropod]] dinosaur ''[[Coelophysis]]'', and he believed that no other large [[Vertebrate|vertebrates]] were present in the quarry. As a result, his crew did not even open the [[Fossil collecting#Preservation and documentation|plaster jackets]] of most of the blocks that were shipped to the [[American Museum of Natural History]]. The plaster jacket containing the holotype of ''Effigia'' started to be prepared in 2004, and the specimen was uncovered by graduate student [[Sterling Nesbitt]] at the AMNH.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/from-the-collections-posts/fossils-of-ghost-ranch|title=Fossils of Ghost Ranch|last=AMNH|date=October 2015|website=America Museum of Natural History}}</ref> Nesbitt was opening jackets of blocks in order to find new specimens of ''Coelophysis''. Upon finding the remains of ''Effigia'', he instantly recognized this was not a dinosaur and proceeded to track down the rest of the blocks from that area of the quarry. Nesbitt and [[Mark Norell]], curator at the museum, named it ''Effigia okeeffeae'' in January 2006 after [[Georgia O'Keeffe]], who spent many years at Ghost Ranch.<ref name=":0" />
==Convergence==
[[File:Effigia BW.jpg|left|thumb|Life restoration]]
''Effigia'' is noted for its remarkable similarity to [[Ornithomimidae|ornithomimid]] [[dinosaur]]s. In 2007, Nesbitt's description demonstrated that ''Effigia'' was very similar to ''[[Shuvosaurus]]'', and is definitely a member of the archosaur subgroup Pseudosuchia (the line leading towards modern [[crocodilia]]ns). Its similarity to ornithomimids represents a case of "extreme" [[convergent evolution]]. Nesbitt also demonstrated that ''[[Shuvosaurus]]'' was the same animal as ''Chatterjeea'', and that it belonged to an exclusive [[clade]] containing closely related [[Suchia|suchians]] such as ''Shuvosaurus'' and ''[[Poposaurus]]'' ([[Poposauroidea]]). Within this group, ''Effigia'' forms an even more exclusive clade with ''Shuvosaurus'' and the South American ''[[Sillosuchus]]'' ([[Shuvosauridae]]).<ref name="nesbitt2007">Nesbitt, S. (2007). "The anatomy of ''Effigia okeeffeae'' (Archosauria, Suchia), theropod-like convergence, and the distribution of related taxa." ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'', '''302''': 84 pp. http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/5840</ref><ref name="Nesbitt11" /> In 2007, Lucas and others suggested that "''Effigia''" was synonymous with "''Shuvosaurus''" and used the new combination "''Shuvosaurus okeeffeae''" for the animal.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lucas |first1=Spencer G. |last2=Spielmann |first2=Justin A. |last3=Hunt |first3=Adrian P. |date=2007 |title=Taxonomy of ''Shuvosaurus'', a Late Triassic archosaur from the Chinle Group, American Southwest |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EGDmCQAAQBAJ&pg=259 |journal=New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin |volume=41 |pages=259–261}}</ref> This proposal has not been accepted by Nesbitt.<ref name="nesbitt2007" /><ref name="Nesbitt11" />
==Paleobiology==
Examination of ''Effigia's'' jaws suggest it nipped and sheared off vegetation when feeding, due to its weak jaws and sharp beak. It was previously suggested that it pecked for food like [[Ostrich|ostriches]] or other [[Ratite|ratites]], but [[Biomechanics|biomechanical]] studies have estimated that its skull could not withstand such forces.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bestwick |first1=J. |last2=Jones |first2=A.S. |last3=Nesbitt |first3=S.J. |last4=Lautenschlager |first4=S. |last5=Rayfield |first5=E.J. |last6=Cuff |first6=A.R. |last7=Button |first7=D.J. |last8=Barrett |first8=P.M. |last9=Porro |first9=L.B. |last10=Butler |first10=R.J. |year=2021 |title=Cranial functional morphology of the pseudosuchian ''Effigia'' and implications for its ecological role in the Triassic |journal=The Anatomical Record |volume=305 |issue=10 |pages=1–28 |doi=10.1002/ar.24827|pmid=34841701 |s2cid=244713889 |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10141645/ }}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
{{Portal|Paleontology}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110710130645/http://www.dinosalive.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemi ''Effigia'' at the website for the 2007 IMAX documentary, "Dinosaurs Alive!]"
*[http://www.amnh.org/science/papers/crocodile.php Toothless Crocodile Relative, 210 Million Years Old, Walked On Two Feet (2006) - American Museum of Natural History press release]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060616230358/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/06/02/fossil_georgiaOKeeffe.html New Fossil Find in New Mexico Named After Artist Georgia O'Keeffe (2006) - Columbia News press release]
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/science/26croc.html?_r=2 Fossil Yields Surprise Kin of Crocodiles (2006) – New York Times press release]
{{Pseudosuchia|P.}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2324943}}
[[Category:Poposauroids]]
[[Category:Late Triassic archosaurs of North America]]
[[Category:Prehistoric pseudosuchian genera]]