|
Troodontid
Troodontidae is a clade of bird-like theropod dinosaurs. During most of the 20th century, troodontid fossils were few and incomplete and they have therefore been allied, at various times, with many dinosaurian lineages. More recent fossil discoveries of complete and articulated specimens (including specimens which preserve feathers, eggs, embryos, and complete juveniles), have helped to increase understanding about this group. Anatomical studies, particularly studies of the most primitive troodontids, like ''Sinovenator'', demonstrate striking anatomical similarities with ''Archaeopteryx'' and primitive dromaeosaurids, and demonstrate that they are relatives comprising a clade called Paraves. Description Troodontids are a group of small, bird-like, gracile maniraptorans. All troodontids have unique features of the skull, such as large numbers of closely spaced teeth in the lower jaw. Troodontids have sickle-claws and raptorial hands, and some of the highest non-avian encephaliza ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alaskan Troodontid
''Troodon'' ( ; ''Troödon'' in older sources) is a wastebasket taxon and a dubious genus of relatively small, bird-like dinosaurs known definitively from the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period (about 77 mya). It includes at least one species, ''Troodon formosus'', known from Montana. Discovered in October 1855, ''T. formosus'' was among the first dinosaurs found in North America, although it was thought to be a lizard until 1877. Several well-known troodontid specimens from the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta were once believed to be members of this genus. However, recent analyses in 2017 have found the genus to be undiagnostic and referred some of these specimens to the genus ''Stenonychosaurus'' (long believed to be synonymous with ''Troodon'') and others to the genus ''Latenivenatrix''. The genus name is Ancient Greek for "wounding tooth", referring to the teeth, which were different from those of most other theropods known at the time of their discovery. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troodon Formosus
''Troodon'' ( ; ''Troödon'' in older sources) is a wastebasket taxon and a dubious genus of relatively small, bird-like dinosaurs known definitively from the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period (about 77 mya). It includes at least one species, ''Troodon formosus'', known from Montana. Discovered in October 1855, ''T. formosus'' was among the first dinosaurs found in North America, although it was thought to be a lizard until 1877. Several well-known troodontid specimens from the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta were once believed to be members of this genus. However, recent analyses in 2017 have found the genus to be undiagnostic and referred some of these specimens to the genus ''Stenonychosaurus'' (long believed to be synonymous with ''Troodon'') and others to the genus ''Latenivenatrix''. The genus name is Ancient Greek for "wounding tooth", referring to the teeth, which were different from those of most other theropods known at the time of their discovery. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xixiasaurus
''Xixiasaurus'' () is a genus of troodontid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period in what is now China. The only known specimen was discovered in Xixia County, Henan Province, in central China, and became the holotype of the new genus and species ''Xixiasaurus henanensis'' in 2010. The names refer to the areas of discovery, and can be translated as "Henan Xixia lizard". The specimen consists of an almost complete skull (except for the hindmost portion), part of the lower jaw, and teeth, as well as a partial right forelimb. ''Xixiasaurus'' is estimated to have been long and to have weighed . As a troodontid, it would have been bird-like and lightly built, with grasping hands and an enlarged sickle-shaped claw on the second toe. Its skull was long, with a long, low snout that formed a tapering U-shape when seen from below. The of the forehead was dome-like in side view, which indicates it had an enlarged . It differed from other troodontids in that the front of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liaoningvenator
''Liaoningvenator'' (meaning "Liaoning hunter") is a genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. It contains a single species, ''L. curriei'', named after paleontologist Phillip J. Currie in 2017 by Shen Cai-Zhi and colleagues from an articulated, nearly complete skeleton, one of the most complete troodontid specimens known. Shen and colleagues found indicative traits that placed ''Liaoningvenator'' within the Troodontidae. These traits included its numerous, small, and closely packed teeth, as well as the vertebrae towards the end of its tail having shallow grooves in place of neural spines on their top surfaces. Within the Troodontidae, the closest relative of ''Liaoningvenator'' was ''Eosinopteryx'', and it was also closely related to ''Anchiornis'' and ''Xiaotingia''; while these have traditionally been placed outside the Troodontidae, the phylogenetic analysis conducted by Shen and colleagues offered evidence supporting the alternative identifica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jianianhualong
''Jianianhualong'' (meaning "Jianianhua dragon") is a genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. It contains a single species, ''Jianianhualong tengi'', named in 2017 by Xu Xing and colleagues based on an articulated skeleton preserving feathers. The feathers at the middle of the tail of ''Jianianhualong'' are asymmetric, being the first record of asymmetrical feathers among the troodontids. Despite aerodynamic differences from the flight feathers of modern birds, the feathers in the tail vane of ''Jianianhualong'' could have functioned in drag reduction whilst the animal was moving. The discovery of ''Jianianhualong'' supports the notion that asymmetrical feathers appeared early in the evolutionary history of the Paraves. ''Jianianhualong'' possesses a combination of traits seen in basal as well as traits seen in derived troodontids. This is consistent with its phylogenetically intermediate position among the troodontids. This mixture of traits s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinovenator
''Sinovenator'' (meaning "Chinese hunter") is a genus of troodontid dinosaur from China. It is from the early Cretaceous Period (geology), Period. Discovery and naming Two specimens of a troodontidae, troodontid were described in 2002 in paleontology, 2002. They are both housed in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, under the specimen numbers IVPP V 12615 and IVPP V 12583. Xu Xing (paleontologist), Xu Xing, Mark Norell, and colleagues authored the study describing them, finding the specimens to represent a new taxon, for which was chosen the binomial name, binomial ''Sinovenator changii''. The generic name was derived from the Latin word ''Sinae'', for China, and ''Venator'', or "hunter". Meemann Chang is honoured by the species name for her contributions to the study of the Jehol Fauna. As Chang is a female researcher, the epithet should have been "changae"; however, such mistakes cannot be emended according to the rules of the International Code of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jinfengopteryginae
Jinfengopteryginae is a subfamily of bird-like theropod dinosaurs known from the Cretaceous of Eurasia. This group includes relatively few genera, with members discovered in 2005 but the name erected in 2012. Like other troodontids, this group of dinosaurs resided in the Paraves potentially close to the Avialae. Description Jinfengopterygines were relatively small sized troodontids ranging from about 0.5–2 m (1.8–6.6 ft), and like other troodontids had a pair of sickle claws on each foot. These animals were feathered, as most troodontids presumably were, as shown in the type species, with typical feathering around the body an neck and especially long, vaned feathers spanning the tail. Studies on these animals' flight capabilities have determined that they would be approximately as proficient as ''Microraptor'' and ''Rahonavis''. Although most other troodontids are believed to be primarily carnivorous, specimens of this subfamily show potential omnivory, being what are p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinornithoides
''Sinornithoides'' (meaning "Chinese bird form") is a genus of troodontid theropod dinosaurs containing the single species ''Sinornithoides youngi''. ''S. youngi'' lived during the Early Cretaceous ( Aptian/Albian stage, around 113 million years ago).Sereno, P.C. (2010). "Taxonomy, cranial morphology, and relationships of parrot-beaked dinosaurs (Ceratopsia: ''Psittacosaurus'')." ''New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs''. Bloomington: Indiana, 21-58. It measured approximately one meter long (3.3 ft). It lived in Inner Mongolia, China, and probably ate invertebrates and other small prey. They lived in what is now Mongolia, which was part of Laurasia. Discovery In 1988, a Chinese-Canadian expedition discovered the remains of a small theropod near Huamuxiao, in the Ordos Basin of Inner Mongolia. ''Sinornithoides youngi'', the type species, was named and described in 1993/1994 by Dale Russell and Dong Zhiming based on this fossil specimen from the Lower Cretaceous Ejinhoro Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talos (dinosaur)
''Talos'' is an extinct genus of carnivorous bird-like theropod dinosaur, an advanced troodontid which lived during the late Cretaceous period (late Campanian, about 76 Ma) in the geographic area that is now Utah, United States. Discovery ''Talos'' is known only from the holotype specimen UMNH VP 19479, a partial postcranial skeleton of a subadult individual including the hindlimbs, pelvis, vertebral fragments, chevrons and the left ulna. It was discovered and collected in 2008 by M. J. Knell during the Kaiparowits Basin Project, initiated by the University of Utah in 2000, from the Kaiparowits Formation within the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. It was first named by Lindsay E. Zanno, David J. Varricchio, Patrick M. O'Connor, Alan L. Titus, and Michael J. Knell in 2011 and the type species is ''Talos sampsoni''. The generic name comes from Talos, a giant bronze automaton in Greek mythology and is intended to be a pun on the English word ''talon''. The spec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hesperornithoides
''Hesperornithoides'' (meaning "western bird form"; nicknamed "Lori") is a genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. Discovery Although several Troodontid teeth were found, with the troodontid ''Koparion'' named in 1994, a well preserved skeleton wasn't found until in 2001, a field crew from the Tate Museum supervised by William Wahl unexpectedly discovered the type skeleton ''Hesperornithoides'' in Jimbo Quarry of the Morrison Formation, overlying the excavation site of ''Supersaurus vivianae'', near Douglas, Wyoming. The muddy sandstone layers of the Jimbo Quarry from which ''Hesperornithoides'' came from the middle Morrison Formation dating to the between the Oxfordian and Tithonian ages of the Upper Jurassic.Trujillo, K., Chamberlain, K., & Strickland, A. (2006). Oxfordian Park: U/Pb ages from SHRIMP analysis for the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of southeastern Wyoming with implications for biostratigraphic correl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Papiliovenator
''Papiliovenator'' (meaning "butterfly hunter", after a butterfly-shaped feature on its first two dorsal vertebrae) is a genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur from the Bayan Mandahu Formation of Inner Mongolia, China. The type and only species is ''Papiliovenator neimengguensis''. Description The holotype, BNMNH-PV030, is a partial, semi-articulated subadult skeleton consisting of a nearly complete cranium and other postcranial bones. Uniquely, its snout was short and subtriangular, more similar to that of Early Cretaceous troodontids such as ''Mei long'' than the long, low snouts of Late Cretaceous troodontids. This and other unique traits of irs skeleton suggest a high diversity of troodontid morphotypes in the Late Cretaceous Gobi Desert. Classification Pei ''et al.'' recover ''Papiliovenator'' as the earliest-diverging member of a clade consisting of all Late Cretaceous troodontids except for ''Almas ukhaa ''Almas'' is a genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Almas Ukhaa
''Almas'' is a genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. It contains a single species, ''Almas ukhaa'', named in 2017 by Pei Rui and colleagues, based on a partial articulated skeleton. The only known specimen was found in the Djadochta Formation, which is late Campanian in age. Discovery and naming In 1993, a joint expedition by the American Museum of Natural History and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences discovered near Ukhaa Tolgod, the Flaming Cliffs, a skeleton of a small theropod. It was prepared by Amy Davidson. Though in subsequent years its traits were inserted in some data matrices of phylogenetic analyses, a description of the fossil was never published. In 2017, the type species ''Almas ukhaa'' was named and described by Pei Rui, Mark Norell, Daniel Barta, Gabriel Bever, Michael Pittman and Xu Xing. The generic name refers to the almas, "wild man" in Mongolian, a man-like creature from Mongolian folklore. The specific name refers t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
