A field guide to mesozoic birds and other winged dinosaurs
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A field guide to mesozoic birds and other winged dinosaurs

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19.07.2019 Views

Mongolian Bird-like Saurian Saurornithoides mongoliensis Time: 75 Ma ago Location: Omnogovi, Mongolia Habitat: Bayan Dzak, Djadochta Formation. Arid desert scrubland. Size: WS unknown; BL 1.5m (4.9ft); TL unknown Features: Mid-sized relative to contemporary species. Snout long & narrow, but broader than adult Byronosaurus. Teeth w/ large, coarse serrations. Legs long & slender. Biology: Long tarsi indacte that these were fast runners. Probably fed on small vertebrates such as lizards & hatchling dinosaurians foraged from the dunes. Young Zanabazar Zanabazar junior Time: 70 Ma ago Location: Omnogovi, Mongolia Habitat: Nemegt Formation (see above) Size: WS unknown; BL 2.5m (8.2ft); TL unknown Features: Large troodontids. Snout long and narrow. Large number of teeth (20 in upper jaw, 35 in lower jaw) w/ large, coarse serrations. Legs long & slender. Biology: Possibly omnivorous generalists, preferring to take small prey but supplementing with plant material, invertebrates, etc. Tan’s Linhe Hunter Linhevenator tani Time: 75 Ma ago Location: Inner Mongolia, China Habitat: Wulansuhai Formation Size: WS unknown; BL ~1.7m (5.6ft); TL unknown Features: Snout relatively long but w/ broad skull caused by flared jugal bones. Wings small but robust & powerful. Sickle claw unusually large among troodontids. Biology: Thr large sickle claw likely evolved in parallel w/ eudromaeosaurians, indicating a similar prey capture strategy in this species. The arms are short as in other troodontids but especially powerful, possibly used in digging, climbing, or clinging to large prey. Phil Currie’s Hunter Philovenator curriei Time: 75 Ma ago Location: Omnogovi, Mongolia & Inner Mongolia, China Habitat: Djadochta & Wulansuhai Formations. Arid desert scrubland. Size: (juvenile) WS unknown; BL ~75cm (2.5ft); TL unknown Features: Very small troodontines. Head triangular w/ narrow, pointed snout. Head large, legs long & slender, and, unusually, wider from front to back than from side to side. Sickle claw unusually small. Biology: Though known only from subadult (~two-year-old) specimens, some of which were initially considered juvenile Saurornithoides mongoliensis, these are distinct in several anatomical characteristics, including a large sheet-like process on the tibia, presumably for anchoring powerful leg muscles. They appear to be more closely related to Linhevenator. Additional specimens from the same time & general area, known as the “Zos Canyon Troodontid”, are probably the same species (Mortimer 2010). Small sickle claw may indicate less reliance on the foot talons in prey capture. 104

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