''Kinnareemimus'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of
ornithomimosaurian
theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
from
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
.
It is known only from incomplete remains discovered no later than the early 1990s that includes
vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...
e, partial pubic bones,
metatarsal
The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus, are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are numbered from the me ...
s, and an incomplete
fibula
The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity i ...
. The third metatarsal exhibits a distinctive lateral "pinching", known as the "arctometarsalian" condition, variations of which are found in ornithomimosaurs,
tyrannosauroid
Tyrannosauroidea (meaning 'tyrant lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the family Tyrannosauridae as well as more basal relatives. Tyrannosauroids lived on the Laurasian supercontinent b ...
s,
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 disco ...
s, and
caenagnathids. Its remains were collected from the
Early Cretaceous Sao Khua Formation, dating to the
Barremian
The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is precede ...
stage, at Phu Wiang,
Khon Kaen Province. Its early occurrence makes it among the earliest (if not the earliest) ornithomimosaur known, depending on the age of the formation.
Buffetaut ''et al.'' suggest the fossils of ''Kinnareemimus'' may indicate an Asian origin for advanced ornithomimosaurs.
The genus was first described by Eric Buffetaut, Varavudh Suteethorn and Haiyan Tong in
2009 and the
type and only species is ''Kinnareemimus khonkaenensis''. It was named in honor of
Kinnaree
A kinnara is a celestial musician, part human and part bird, who are musically paradigmatic lovers, in Hinduism and Buddhism. In these traditions, the ''kinnaras'' (male) and ''kinnaris'' (female counterpart) are two of the most beloved myth ...
, "graceful beings of Thai mythology, with the body of a woman and the legs of a bird, said to inhabit the depths of the legendary
Himmapan Forest, by allusion to the bird-like feet of this dinosaur".
The name "Kinnareemimus" was first mentioned in a 1999 paper by Sasithorn Kamsupha, and (as "Ginnareemimus") in a publication by Ryuichi Kaneko in 2000.
See also
*
Timeline of ornithomimosaur research
References
External links
Brief descriptionon the Dinosaur Mailing List
Ornithomimosaurs
Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia
Cretaceous Thailand
Fossils of Thailand
Fossil taxa described in 2009
Taxa named by Éric Buffetaut
Taxa named by Varavudh Suteethorn
{{theropod-stub
Valanginian life
Hauterivian life