The generic name of Kansaignathus comes from near the town of Konsoy ("Kansai" in Russian) where it was discovered and the Greek word "gnathos" meaning "jaw".
[2] The holotype of Kansaignathus was found at the Kansai locality, about 22 km to the North of the town of Khujand (sometimes spelled "Khudzhand") in the Sughd Region of Tajikistan.
Exact dates and times of when the holotype was excavated is not known, but references to dromaeosaurs known from the locality were made by L.A. Nesov in a publication in 1995.
However, the holotype is relatively unique in preserving several rows of nutrient foramina, which imparts a rugose texture to the lateral surface of the bone in some areas.
This referral was based on their occurrence at the same locality as the holotype and a lack of evidence for multiple dromaeosaurid taxa in the similarly-aged Bissekty and Bayan Shireh formations.
They hypothesize that the lack of well-developed flexor tubercules on the articular surface between the phalanx and ungual indicates relatively little flexibility in the joints, which are known to occur in the feet of dromaeosaurs (e.g. for their killing claws).
[2] Bambiraptor Dakotaraptor Atrociraptor Saurornitholestes Bayan Shireh dromaeosaurid Boreonykus Dromaeosaurus Utahraptor Deinonychus Kansaignathus Acheroraptor Adasaurus Velociraptor mongoliensis "Velociraptor" osmolskae Dineobellator Linheraptor Tsaagan Averianov and Lupatin suggest the implications that the discovery of Kansaignathus has for the biogeography of dromaeosaurs during the middle and late Cretaceous.
They hypothesize that velociraptorines originated in North America before migrating to Asia and diversifying there during the Cretaceous and dispersing back into Laramidia.
They are also uncertain as to the relationship between Kansaignathus and its contemporary genera in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, such as Itemirus and several teeth known from the Bostobe Formation, due to the incomplete nature of these remains.
The abundant chondrichthyan genera Hybodus and Myledaphus, which are known from freshwater deposits all over the world both have species represented in the Yalovach Formation.
They are accompanied by amphibians like Eoscapherpeton and turtles like Shachemys, Khunnuchelys, and Lindholmemys, which are also common in Late Cretaceous freshwater deposits.
These fragmentary remains include teeth from sauropods,[8] basal tyrannosauroids and troodontids,[7] claws and part of a femur from a primitive therizinosaur,[9] and an isolated metacarpal from an ornithomimosaur.
[14] Very little has been inferred about the relationships between different animals in these ecosystems because of the fragmentary and sparse nature of the remains,[7] but some authors have commented on potential ongoing or future study in the area.