Siats

Named after Siats, a man-eating monster of Ute legend

• Siats · Ute · man-eating monster of Ute legend

Siats is named after a monster from the legends of the Ute people of the region where the fossils were found. The creature is said to be a man-eating monster, and the name was chosen to fit a huge predator. It is pronounced roughly "see-ATS". The only species, Siats meekerorum, honors the Meeker family, who supported the research.

Named by

Zanno and Makovicky

Year named

2013

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Cenomanian

Found in

Cedar Mountain Formation (Mussentuchit Member), Utah, USA

A large theropod, usually classified as a neovenatorid carcharodontosaurian allosauroid. Its remains are known from a partial skeleton of a subadult. It is one of the few large predators known from North America's mid-Cretaceous, before the tyrannosaurids became dominant.