Is this a new nomen nudum for the Bissekty therizinosaur?

[Mickey Mortimer]

So I'm going through Nessov's works to translate them into English. I came across this entry (1992b: 25; translated by Google Translate) - "Dzirakuduksky, a yet undescribed species of sauropods or segnosaurs, had a paradoxically strongly pneumatized skeleton. The thinness and lightness of the bone walls and the enormous size of the internal cavities in the skeletal elements of this dinosaur species (even in the basisphenoid of other bones of the braincase) are quite comparable with those found in pterosaurs and flying birds. These sauropods differ sharply from the heavier forms of the same group known to us, for example, from the late Barremian-middle Aptian of Transbaikalia (Mogoito ridge; see figure, 3). It seems that the unusually high pneumatization of the bones of sauropods or segnosaurs in Dzharakuduk could have been associated with selection for high buoyancy (unsinkability in marshy biotopes)."

Is "Dzirakuduksky" a nickname for a taxon, or is there some subtlety to Russian where this is just saying "In the Dzharakuduk, a yet undescribed species..."? Original Russian below...

Джиракудук-
ский, пока не описанный вид завропод
или сегнозавров, обладал парадоксально
сильно пневматизированным скелетом.
Тонкость и легкость стенок костей и ог-
ромная величина внутренних полостей
в элементах скелета этого вида динозав-
ров (даже в базисфеноидеи других кос-
тях мозговой коробки) вполне сопоста-
вимы с имеющимися у птерозавров и
летающих птиц. Эти завроподы резко
отличаются от известных нам более тя-
желых форм той же группы, например
из позднего баррема-среднего апта За-
байкалья (ур. Могойто; см. рисунок, 3).
Создается впечатление, что необычайно
высокая пневматизация костей завро-
под или сегнозавров в Джиракудуке
могла быть связана с отбором на высо-
кую плавучесть (непотопляемссть в бо-
лотистых биотопах).

Mickey Mortimer

[Jerry Harris]

I definitely don't know Russian, but plugging "Джиракудукский" into Google brought up a few pages in Russian of maps pointing to the locality, so I'd guess it's a reference to the locality, not a taxon. Most of the sites seemed to pair it with "район" (to make "Джалакудукский район"), which just means "Dzharakuduk District" as far as I can tell, which again suggests it's a location. Not proof, of course, and I'd love to hear from someone with knowledge of Russian!

[Zen Lizard]

I know enough Russian to know for sure that "Район" (Rayon) is more or less "District" in English-in context, it could also be translated as "region" or "area", though there are more exact Russian words for those concepts. But Ilearned/am learning Russian for the technical literature, and I don't trust my command of the language enough to tell for sure whether "Джиракудук" (Dzhirakuduk) is simply the name of the region, or a taxon named after the region. I'd actually lean towards the latter interpretation, given the quoted text.

-zenlizard

[Nathan Wilkinson]

Hi Mickey,

It's been a while without a definitive answer from a native speaker, so I'll risk giving my two cents: My Russian is far from perfect, but I majored in it in undergrad and have published some literary translations. "Джиракудукский" ("of Dzhirakuduk") refers to a fossil site in Uchquduq District, central Uzbekistan, not to Jalaquduq District in far eastern Uzbekistan. Sues and Averianov (2016) note a bunch of variant spellings: "The most fossiliferous strata are those of the Bissekty Formation, which crop out along an approximately 8 km long escarpment near the small settlement of Dzharakuduk (variously given in the literature as Dzhara-Kuduk, Dzhirakuduk, Dzhyrakuduk, Bissekty, and Kul'beke) in the central Kyzylkum Desert."

To my eye, "Джиракудукский" ("of Dzhirakuduk") and "пока не описанный" ("yet undescribed") are both just adjectives describing "вид" ("species") - the line could be translated as "The undescribed species of Dzharakuduk sauropod or segnosaur had paradoxically heavy skeletal pneumatization."

Hope this helps - and I'll be happy to be corrected if anyone knows better!

Sues, Hans-Dieter, & Averianov, Alexander (2016). "Therizinosauroidea (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Uzbekistan,"
Cretaceous Research, 59, 155-78.

[Jaime Headden]

Dzhirakudukskiy is just the adjective, isn't it?

Cheers,

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Jaime A. Headden

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[Mickey Mortimer]

Thanks everyone! Of course Dzharakuduk is the famous Uzbekistan locality of so many taxa cobbled together from isolated elements (Dzharacursor, Timurlegia, etc.), and indeed this is more specifically Dzharakuduk II. Nathan's explanation was most helpful. 

Mickey Mortimer