Campania
"Ciro"
Scipionyx samniticus
Dinosaur skeleton on slab, holotype of the species
Description
Scipionyx samniticus, nicknamed Ciro, was discovered in 1981 by a fossil enthusiast in Pietraroja (Benevento) and is one of the most famous Italian fossils in the world.
This dinosaur, a predatory theropods, lived about 113 million years ago and is notable for its exceptional state of preservation. Its rapid burial shortly after death has, in fact, preserved some of its soft tissues and internal organs, including neck muscles, cartilage, the liver (in part), the intestines, the trachea, and some blood vessels.
A full-scale “paleo-autopsy” was conducted on Ciro, allowing researchers to reconstruct numerous details about his age and diet. His small size, the body proportions typical of a newborn, his wide eye sockets, and the fact that his teeth had not yet been replaced indicate that Ciro was likely less than ten days old at the time of his death.
Even the remains of its most recent meals were found intact: parts of lizards and fish were discovered inside its digestive tract, suggesting that its parents may have dismembered the prey to feed the young, a sign of possible parental care.
Classification and size comparison
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Family: †Compsognathidae?
Genus: †Scipionyx
Species: †Scipionyx samniticus
Dal Sasso & Signore, 1998
Modified from “Scipionyx QY 200.JPG” evidence for the reconstruction of Conty, Wikimedia Commons,
licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Geologic Time Scale
- ERA: Mesozoic
- PERIOD: Cretaceous
- EPOCH: Lower Cretaceous
- ETÀ: Albiano (113-100.5 Ma)
Site of discovery
Località Le Cavere, Pietraroja (BN)
Display location
Soprintendenza Archeologia belle arti e paesaggio per le province di Caserta e Benevento (Sede di Benevento)
Catalogue number:
163760
Luogo di esposizione di calchi
Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano
Ciro as a Symbol of Regional Development: The INSITE Project
INSITE is a national research project that promotes the enhancement of geopaleontological sites through a multidisciplinary approach. It focuses on cultural and regional heritage, with the goal of fostering redevelopment and sustainable tourism, with a particular focus on the “Ciampate del diavolo” and “Pietraroja” sites in Campania.
Your contribution is important
Gallery
Geological context: yesterday...
Click on the image and explore Ciro's world, reconstructed as it was 113 million years ago.
Credits: Aurus Ricerca in collaboration with the INSITE Project.
...and today
Anatomical details
Detail of the Scipionyxskull. The large, circular eye sockets and short snout are infantile characteristics, indicating
that the animal died at a very young age.
Roberto Appiani, © Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici di Salerno, Avellino, Benevento e Caserta.
Skull and jaw bones of Scipionyx samniticusA) External elements of the right side of the skull; B) scleral plates
and right hemimandible.
(Dal Sasso C. & Maganuco S., 2011).
Skull and jaw bones of Scipionyx samniticusC) internal elements of the right side, and odd-numbered
elements of the skull; D) elements of the left side and unidentified bones.
(Dal Sasso C. e Maganuco S., 2011).
First: an ultraviolet (UV) photograph of Scipionyx samniticusThe bones appear matte brown, and the soft tissues
are fluorescent, with colors ranging from white-gold to indigo blue. The dark spot on
the thorax is caused by residues of the liver, spleen, and heart.
Roberto Appiani, © Soprintendenza Archeologia belle arti e paesaggio per le province di Caserta e Benevento.
Below: Map of the soft tissues preserved in Scipionyx, obtained by combining observations under an optical microscope, in
ultraviolet light, and with a scanning electron microscope.
Marco Auditore, © Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano.
(Da Dal Sasso C. & Maganuco S., 2011).
Legend:
- aduo – ascending loop of the duodenum
- duo – duodenum
- dduo – descending loop of the duodenum
- fp – fecal matter
- ile – ileum
- jej – jejunum
- liv – liver and other highly vascular organs
- rec – rectum
- sto – stomach contents
The intestine is the most complete internal organ of Scipionyx samniticus. The virtual color changes follow the morphofunctional classification proposed in the text. Scale bar = 5 mm. (From Dal Sasso C. & Maganuco S., 2011).
The first official three-dimensional paleoartistic reconstruction of Ciro's internal organs, created by Fabio Manucci in collaboration with Cristiano Dal Sasso and Simone Maganuco.
Another paleoart reconstruction of Ciro and his internal organs in three illustrations, by Alessio Ciaffi.
Paleoart corner
Bibliography:
- Briggs D.E.G. (2003). The role of decay and mineralization in the preservation of soft-bodied
fossils. Annual Review Earth and Planetary Sciences, 31: 275-301. - Cau A. (2021). Mesozoic theropod dinosaurs from Italy. Atti della Società dei Naturalisti e dei
Matematici di Modena, 52: 81-95. - Dal Sasso C. & Maganuco S. (2011). Scipionyx samniticus (Theropoda: Compsognathidae) from
the Lower Cretaceous of Italy. Osteology, ontogenetic assessment, phylogeny, soft tissue
anatomy, taphonomy and palaeobiology. Memorie della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e
del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano, 37: 1-281. - Dal Sasso C. & Signore M. (1998). Exceptional soft-tissue preservation in a theropod dinosaur
from Italy. Nature, 392: 383-387. - Dal Sasso C. (2001). Dinosauri italiani. 256 pp. Marsilio Editore, Venezia.
- Dal Sasso C. (2004). Dinosaurs of Italy. 232 pp. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
Credits and acknowledgments
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Professor Cristiano Dal Sasso, curator of the Vertebrate Paleontology section at the Natural History Museum of Milan, for sharing the multimedia material used on this page.
We would like to thank Dr. Simone Foresta and the Soprintendenza Archeologia belle arti e paesaggio for the provinces of Caserta and Benevento for granting permission to use this material.
We would also like to thank all the paleoartists for granting permission to publish their works.
Reproduction, distribution, or any other use is prohibited without prior authorization from the rights holders.