#Chickenparrot

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Trick or treat :D

Gigantoraptor!

[theropoda]

HEY PALEOBLR

you know how oviraptorosaurs are often called "chickenparrots?"

well i recently learned abt the real life chickenparrot: the kili mooku chicken ("parrot beak/nose" in tamil)

i unfortunately dont know as much about them as i'd like since idk tamil well but from what little i understand, they're a show breed developed in tamil nadu (my state!) who are surprisngly health despite how odd they look! their breed standard also seems to include little to no wattles save a single round comb, so that one comb makes em look even more like oviraptorosaurs!

oviraptorosaur..........2!!!!!

[irradiatedsnakes]

What are some omnivorous dinosaurs? What do you think they looked like?

hmm..not too many, off the top of my head! take these with a small grain of salt, this is mostly from memory and not checked against scientific literature:

the first that comes to mine are troodontids. they’re very similar-looking to your traditional raptors, dromaeosaurs, but are generally a bit more delicate and gracile looking

then theres oviraptorisaurs like citipati or anzu. good ol chickenparrots! iirc theres this famous specimen of the oviraptorisaur khaan named romeo and juliet- a couple preserved together, with the (we assume) male having specialized tail bones not unlike that of a peacock (http://www.eartharchives.org/articles/romeo-and-juliet-fossils-offer-insight-into-dinosaur-romance/), so i like to give them fancy feathers and also lots of squishy wattley soft tissue. for display

and then there’s ceratopsians. like, you know, triceratops. for real. kind of. this is much more of a hypothesis than an actual fact but, like. so there are very few herbivores alive today that are actually entirely herbivorous. cows will eat baby birds, deer will catch and eat fish, there’s even a pretty wild shot of a deer eating human bones from a body farm. obviously this doesn’t make deer actual omnivores, but the hypothesis in this case is that ceratopsians, with their sharp beaks and slicey teeth, are more capable of eating meat than their other herbivorous ornithischian cousins, and it’s kind of caught on. check out mark witton’s take on it! http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2015/02/controversial-ceratopsids-revisited.html

so here’s a diabloceratops munchin on some large theropod.

[evaceratops]

i got ANZU are you kidding me

if i don’t get trike i’m suing

[albertonykus]

What's Nomingia then, if not a chickenparrot?

There is no question that Nomingia is an oviraptorosaur/chickenparrot. However, it might be a caenagnathid oviraptorosaur instead of an oviraptorid oviraptorosaur.

[huxley-paleozoo]

Mongolia of the Cretaceous

Late Cretaceous Mongolia is one of the richest locations for dinosaur fossil hunting, and a great variety of dinosaurs are known, from the familiar Velociraptor and Protoceratops to the utter weirdness of Deinocheirus and Achillobator. This section, bordered by Vista View to the east and the aquarium and Synapsid Alley to the south, showcases animals from four formations - the Bayan Shireh Formation of Cenomanian Burkhant, the Djadochta Formation of Omnogovi, Nemegt Formation of Omnogovi,  and the Iren Dabasu Formation of Inner Mongolia (technically China, but it’s only fifty miles away).

The bigger animals are found to the north. The Therizinosaurus, Alioramus, and Gigantoraptor exhibits are more densely forested. A boardwalk runs on one edge of the Therizinosaurus exhibit, bringing you closer to their eye level, while on the other side you can see their majesty from the ground - if you can see them in the trees. In contrast, the Nemegt Prairie paddock, shared by Gallimimus and Saurolophus, is noticeably more open. In between the two is a communal paddock. We rotate the larger plant-eaters into there so we can safely clean the exhibits, and sometimes to let them meet with each other - they live in different habitats and normally wouldn’t.

In the middle of the exhibit is the “Duck Pond”, a swamp shared by Ol’ Sam and a flock of Teviornis. Don’t worry, they won’t fly away - their wings are clipped and they spent most of their time wading anyways. To the south of the pond are three chickenparrots from Djadochta, and to the east live alvarezsaurs, ceratopsians, dromaeosaurids and troodontids. Each of these is open and scrubby. Of course Velociraptor is among these - everyone flocks to see them. They probably get the most attention out of everything here.

Animals here:

Achillobator

Alioramus

Citipati

Deinocheirus

Gallimimus

Gigantoraptor

Khaan

Oviraptor

Protoceratops

Saurolophus

Saurornithoides

Shuvuuia

Teviornis

Therizinosaurus

Velociraptor

Zanabazar

[blueberryraptorcrumble]

I like this BG better.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Trick or treat!!!

Caudipteryx!

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Trick or treat!

Khaan!

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Who is flashiest tailed birb group??? vote now on phones!!!

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

If I could go back in time and rename Oviraptor “Psittacogallus” (Parrot Chicken, cause ya know Chickenparrots), I would

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

For the record - and nobody asked this, but I want to write something fun instead of do work - if I were making Goodbye Volcano High, I wouldn't really change anything plot-wise or anything, but I would have every character be based on something from the same place specifically at the end of the Cretaceous

so, because everyone loves Hell Creek, I'd probably pick Hell Creek. as basic as that is

Fang & Naser I'd probably keep as the Hell Creek Azhdarchid? I'm also open to making them "Styginetta" (aka the only thing that would live through the extinction)

Trish can stay Triceratops!

Reed would be Archeroraptor. or maybe Styginetta. I'm debating

Naomi would be Edmontosaurus

Rosa would be Leptoceratops

Sage would maybe be Avisaurus, or Styginetta, or Anzu

Stella would be Ankylosaurus

Ms Roberts would be a Tyrannosaurus

LJ I'd probably make a Pachycephalosaurus

alternatively, we could have fun and go all out with the Nemegt

Fang & Naser would be Therizinosaurus or the Nemegt Azhdarchid

Trish would be Deinocheirus or Therizinosaurus or a Chickenparrot

Reed would be Teviornis or Adasaurus

Naomi would be Saurolophus

Rosa would be Gallimimus maybe? Or Mononykus? Or a chickenparrot?

Sage would be Teviornis, or Brodavis, or Gurilynia?

Stella would be Tarchia or Saichania

Ms Roberts would be Tarbosaurus

LJ I'd probably make a chickenparrot of some kind (there are so many)

at least one person would be Deinocheirus, another would be Therizinosaurus, and another would be Teviornis. everything else is just what makes sense

honestly in both I'd probably exnay the pterosaurs and just do dinosaurs for my own sanity, as much as that'd piss off my pterosaur researcher friends

like I love the game, but man, I would have openly wept if they had stuck to one end-cretaceous ecosystem. like, we know what lived when and what lived with each other (... more or less...), I feel like more games should take advantage of that?

Immersive realism! In my dino-anthro game? It's possible!

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

SO MANY PEOPLE THINK PTEROSAURS ARE DINOSAURS

in that vein, LOTS of people are pissed that A is ahead of B because "A is a bird and B is a lizard" (I don't have the heart to tell them... yet)

everyone loves animal C and I feel very vindicated (that's Kulinda)

no one. not a single person. has correctly ID'd animal D. nyeheheheheheheheheheheheheh

people are convinced Deinonychus is a griffon

it really is feathered bird-type wings. that's the deciding factor. if it has hands its not a bird.

There is a noticeable minority of folks who insist that the important thing is No Teeth. somehow, J doesn't have many votes.

someone thinks a silesaurid is a theropod. I'm crying.

so many people think there's a correct answer and I'm. I'm so excited to write the explanation post where I say "there is not, in fact, a right answer". both because it'll be fun to validate everyone's answers, and also because the people who insist there is a right answer need to calm down.

I'm concerned about humanity's ability to read ("I didn't know there were pictures!" said the hundreth person who didn't read the introduction where I explicitly say there are pictures)

"aren't half of these dinosaurs" surprise, 8 out of 10 are dinosaurs and the 9th is a maybe!

pterosaurs are an affront to g-d

where you live 100% affects the results and people who live in places with ratites or other megafaunal birds (or who work with them frequently) are the most likely to vote for A

lots of people think beaks can't have teeth so that'll be a fun one to dispel

there are at least a few people who want to define bird as Archosauria and I admire their chutzpah

apparently when something is a bird it stops being a dinosaur *headdesk*

lots of people do not know that pterosaurs are bird-line archosaurs and I'm wondering where we went wrong there

apparently ornithomimosaurs are peacocks now

maybe we should go back to lumping bats with birds. sure, it's not evolutionarily correct, but like, apparently bird is more a function of movement (flight) than evolution

multiple people debated what to vote for with their family and/or friends and I'm honored

LOTS of people get thrown off by the visible hands in the chickenparrot image

there is at least one jackass who desperately wants me and other paleontologists to argue with them and we are ignoring them

the results would definitely be different if I had used different taxa and/or images

ah yes the two genders: bird and not-bird

we have a new word for people who limit birds to Avialae through Neornithes: Consbirbative. I will now counter with a new word for people who define bird anywhere between Avemetatarsalia and Theropoda: Libirbal

there are enough people who equate dinosaur and bird and I love them

apparently this is the proper use of the tumblr poll function

*opens up my notifications for the bird poll when I wake up like I’m unfurling the daily newspaper*

Anyone want some highlights?

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Caenagnathasia martinsoni

By José Carlos Cortés 

Etymology: Recent Jaw from Asia

First Described By: Currie et al., 1994

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Oviraptorosauria, Caenagnathoidea, Caenagnathidae, Elmisaurinae

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: Between 92 and 90 million years ago, in the Turonian of the Late Cretaceous 

Caenagnathasia is known from the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan 

Physical Description: Caenagnathasia was a Chickenparrot, and of the kind with particularly long and shallow jaws, with complex ridges inside. Caenagnathids also were more lightly built than Oviraptorids, with more hollow bones, more slender arms and long, gracile legs. They also weren’t very adapted for running as in other Oviraptorosaurs. Caenagnathasia, however, is not very well known. It’s known from a few jaws from a few individuals, as well as some vertebrae and a femur. We do know that Caenagnathasia is one of the smallest known oviraptorosaurs, and one of the smallest non-avian dinosaurs on the whole. It probably was about 0.61 meters long, and weighed 1.4 kilograms. Other than that, it probably would have resembled other oviraptorosaurs in general - fully feathered and bird like, with extensive wings, a tail fan, a beak, and long legs. It also was probably one of the more basal Caenagnathids.

Diet: Like other Oviraptorosaurs, Caenagnathasia was probably an omnivore.

Behavior: It is likely that Caenagnathasia behaved similarly to other Oviraptorosaurs, though we have no proof either way on that score. It probably would have taken care of its young, creating a large nest with eggs laid around the edge. Caenagnathasia would then sit in the center of the nest and use its wings to keep the eggs warm, like modern birds. These eggs were ovular and elongated, and potentially teal or turquoise in color. Caenagnathasia would have also been an an active, warm-blooded animal, using its wings to communicate with other members of the species and in sexual display. It also would have probably been opportunistic in terms of food eaten, feeding on whatever it could get its wings on. 

By Ripley Cook 

Ecosystem: The Bissekty Formation was a diverse Middle Cretaceous seashore, filled with brackish swamps and braided rivers along the coast. It probably would have been filled with horsetails, cycads, ferns, and early flowering plants, though no plant fossils are known from the formation. There were a variety of animals in this ecosystem, especially many transitional forms to the iconic dinosaurs of the Late Cretaceous. There was Turanoceratops, a forerunner of Ceratopsids like Triceratops; Levnesovia, an almost-hadrosaurid, as well as other ornithopods Gilmoreosaurus and Cionodon; Bissektipelta, an ankylosaur; Timurlengia, a transitional Tyrannosaurid; Itemirus, one of the earliest known possible Velociraptorines; the troodontids Urbacodon and Euronychodon, and a variety of early birds such as Platanavis, Zhyraornis, and opposite birds like Abavornis, Catenoleimus, Explorornis, Incolornis, Kizylkumavis, Kuszholia, Lenesornis, and Sazavis. There was also a probable Ornithomimosaur that has not yet been named.

Non-dinosaurs were also present, including the huge pterosaur Azhdarcho, many different kinds of fish, some turtles, amphibians, and even sharks that were adapted to the ample brackish water. There were a lot of crocodylomorphs, too, like Zhyrasuchus, Zholsuchus, Kansajsuchus, and an alligatoroid, Tadzhikosuchus. There were also a lot of weird Iguanas, and early mammals as well - herbivorous Zhelestids, burrowing Asiorhyctitherians, insectivorous Zalambdalestids, almost-marsupials, and rodent-like Cimolodonts. This is surely an exciting ecosystem for further research, as it showcases a transition from the Early Cretaceous, to the Late.

Other:

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the Cut 

Averianov, A.O. 2002. An ankylosaurid (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) braincase from the Upper Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. Bulletin de l'Institute Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre 72. 97–110. Accessed 2019-03-22.

Currie, P.J.; Russell, D.A. (1988). "Osteology and relationships of Chirostenotes pergracilis (Saurischia, Theropoda) from the Judith River Oldman Formation of Alberta". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 25 (3): 972–986.

Currie, P.J.; Godfrey, S.J.; Nessov, L. (1994). "New caenagnathid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) specimens from the Upper Cretaceous of North America and Asia". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 30 (10–11): 2255–2272.

Kurochkin, 2000. Mesozoic birds of Mongolia and the former USSR. in Benton, Shishkin, Unwin and Kurochkin, eds. The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. 533-559.

Lamanna, M. C.; Sues, H. D.; Schachner, E. R.; Lyson, T. R. (2014). "A New Large-Bodied Oviraptorosaurian Theropod Dinosaur from the Latest Cretaceous of Western North America". PLoS ONE. 9 (3): e92022.

Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 152.

Redman, C.M., and L.R. Leighton. 2009. Multivariate faunal analysis of the Turonian Bissekty Formation: Variation in the degree of marine influence in temporally and spatially averaged fossil assemblages. PALAIOS 24. 18–26. Accessed 2019-03-22.

Sato, T., Y. Cheng, X. Wu, D. K. Zelenitsky, Y. Hsaiao. 2005. A pair of shelled eggs inside a female dinosaur. Science 308 (5720): 375.

Sues, H.-D., and A. Averianov. 2009. Turanoceratops tardabilis—the first ceratopsid dinosaur from Asia. Naturwissenschaften 96. 645–652. Accessed 2019-03-22.

Sues, H.-D.; Averianov, A. 2015. "New material of Caenagnathasia martinsoni (Dinosauria: Theropoda: Oviraptorosauria) from the Bissekty Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Turonian) of Uzbekistan". Cretaceous Research. 54: 50–59.

Sues, H-D., and A. Averianov. 2016. Ornithomimidae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Bissekty Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Turonian) of Uzbekistan. Cretaceous Research 57. 90–110. Accessed 2019-03-22.

Weishampel, David B.; Peter Dodson, and Halszka (eds.) Osmólska. 2004. The Dinosauria, 2nd edition, 1–880. Berkeley: University of California Press. Accessed 2019-02-21.ISBN 0-520-24209-2

Wiemann, J., T.-R. Yang, P. N. Sander, M. Schneider, M. Engeser, S. Kath-Schorr, C. E. Müller, P. M. Sander. 2017. Dinosaur origin of egg color: oviraptors laid blue-green eggs. PeerJ 5: e3706.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Deinocheirus mirificus

By Ripley Cook 

Etymology: Horrible Hand

First Described By: Osmólska & Roniewicz, 1970

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Ornithomimosauria, Ornithomimoidea, Deinocheiridae

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: 70 million years ago, in the Maastrichtian of the Late Cretaceous 

Deinocheirus is known from the Nemegt Formation of Ömnögovi, Mongolia 

Physical Description: Deinocheirus is one of the absolute weirdest, fantastical, most surprising discoveries of the 2010s in paleontology, and the answer to a mystery older than most of the readers of this blog. Deinocheirus was originally known from two very long, distinctive arms - arms so long, that they could very easily engulf a person. In fact, many of the photographs of the fossil are of an individual standing in between the hands, in order to give scale to them. But these arms and hands gave very little in the way of information about what Deinocheirus looked like. Eventually, it was determined that Deinocheirus was an Ornithomimosaur - but the scale of the arms indicated it would be a ridiculously huge Ornithomimosaur. 

By Slate Weasel, in the Public Domain 

And then, luckily, more fossils were found of it. To be sure, it was a ridiculously large Ornithomimosaur - in fact, given the fact that it was an Ornithomimosaur, a group of distinctively feathered dinosaurs, it is almost certainly one of the largest feathered animals known to date - but it was More than that by a large margin. It was probably around 11 meters long, weighing up to 6.4 tonnes. It had some of the largest forelimbs known of any bipedal dinosaur - only rivaled by Therizinosaurs - and the arms in question are 2.4 meters long. Its skull, only one specimen of it having been found, is honestly weirdly duck-shaped. It was low and narrow, like other Ornithomimosaurs, but with a longer snout than its relatives. This snout was wide and shaped like a spatula - similar to the snouts of duck-billed dinosaurs and ducks alike. There weren’t any teeth in the jaws, which ended in a distinctive beak, and it was turned down, to make it look fairly massive and deep. When you get down to it, Deinocheirus had a ridiculously triangular head. 

By Nix, CC BY-NC 4.0 

As for the rest of the body, Deinocheirus had very long and narrow shoulder blades, connected to very pronounced and triangular shoulders. Weirdly enough, compared to the shoulders, Deinocheirus actually had smaller arms than its close relative Ornithomimus - ie, it had a smaller shoulder to arm ratio than its relatives. It had a U-shaped wishbone, which is fascinating since we don’t have the wishbone of other Ornithomimosaurs. Unlike other Ornithomimosaurs, it didn’t have pinched toe bones, so it wasn’t highly adapted for fast movement; it also had very blunt and broad foot claws like those of large Ornithischian dinosaurs. It may have been a bulky animal, but it was also quite narrow - with very tall, straight ribs. It had an S-curved neck, especially given the shape of the skull, which extended back into the oddly indeed shaped back. The spines on the back of Deinocheirus got progressively and progressively longer, until reaching lengths similar to those found on Spinosaurus - indicating that Deinocheirus had a sail or a hump, much like Spinosaurus did. There were interconnecting ligaments on the spines, strengthening it. That sail then lessened as it went down along the tail, until the tail had a very skinny appearance compared to the rest of the body. It had extremely lightweight air bones, through which the respiratory system ran. This also allowed it to be even more lightly built, which aided it in its large size. Interestingly enough, the tail ended in fused vertebrae, like those in Therizinosaurs, Oviraptors, and Birds - indicating it had a pygostyle! 

By Michael B. H., CC BY-SA 3.0 

As for feathers, it would have probably been covered in a layer of fluff all over the body. Fancy, pennaceous feathers would have been present on the arms and the end of the tail - in fact, a tail fan would have been attached to that pygostyle and used in display. It may have also had display feathers on the back of the head or even the legs. However, that being said, its large size may indicate a decrease in fluff so that it could stay cool - while it is still most likely that it had distinctive and extensive feathers as in its close relatives, fossil evidence is needed to determine its exact integument situation. 

By Charles Nye 

Diet: Deinocheirus was, distinctively, a large herbivore - specializing on water plants and other soft greens that could be shoveled up with that spoon beak. 

By Meig Dickson & Diane Remic 

Behavior: Deinocheirus probably spent a good amount of time foraging at or near the water, gathering up water vegetation with its spatulate bill. It also utilized gastroliths - stones that were swallowed to grind up that wet and mushy vegetation in the stomach. This was important and helpful, since it couldn’t do much grinding without teeth in its mouth. It did have a very long and large tongue, which allowed it to pull up extensive amounts of plant material up from the ground. It would use the blunt and short claws of its hands in order to dig up plants from the water - and to decrease resistance as it sucked them up from the swamps. 

By Rebecca Groom 

Deinocheirus wasn’t a fast animal - the short and stocky legs meant that it moved slowly through its environment, and used its large size to protect itself against predators instead. It grew extremely rapidly, too, reaching large size before sexual maturity. Sadly, its giant size means that it didn’t have a very large brain compared to its body size - in fact, the ratio in question was more similar to that of sauropods than other theropods. That beings aid, it was similar in shape to birds and troodontids and other birdie theropods, indicating that it still had a decent sense of smell - which is fascinating as it had a good respiratory system as well. As a warm-blooded animal, however, it would have been very active; and as a dinosaur, it probably took care of its young in nests. It is uncertain whether or not it would have lived in social groups, but it certainly wouldn’t have been particularly isolated as an herbivore. 

By José Carlos Cortés 

Ecosystem: The Nemegt Formation was a wetland, filled with a wide variety of dinosaurs right before the end of the time of non-avian dinosaurs. The area was filled with large river channels, which created extensive shallow lakes, mudflats, and floodplains - like the modern Okavango Delta in Botswana. There were also thick coniferous forests surrounding the ecosystem, allowing for drier areas to be retreated to in addition to the swampy mess that was the bulk of the environment. Here, many plant-eaters specialized in feeding on water plants - in fact, I often joke that the Nemegt is the Land of Ducks. In addition to Deinocheirus, there were two other Ornithomimosaurs - Gallimimus and Anserimimus - both featuring duck-like beaks for feeding on water plants. Other ducks of the region include Saurolophus, which, as a duck-billed dinosaur, was especially adapted for feeding on soft plant material; and Teviornis, an early ACTUAL duck relative with the appropriate bill. 

By Fraizer 

This place also had other dinosaurs that weren’t ducks, of course. There was the large tyrannosaur, Tarbosaurus, which is known to have directly preyed upon Deinocheirus. There were troodontids too, like Tochisaurus, Zanabazar and Borogovia, which would have preyed upon the eggs and young of Gallimimus. There were a million different Oviraptorosaurs, making this also the ecosystem of the Chickenparrots - Avimimus, Elmisaurus, Conchoraptor, Nemegtomaia, Nomingia, and Rinchenia, were all present and feeding on the drier vegetation of the area. There was also the Hesperornithine Brodavis, one of the few freshwater species of Hesperornithines. There were other herbivores too, of course - Pachycephalosaurs like Homalocephale and Prenocephale, ankylosaurs such as Tarchia and Saichania, the titanosaur Nemegtosaurus, and the Therizinosaur Therizinosaurus - which probably all stuck to drier areas of the ecosystem than Deinocheirus. Tarbosaurus wasn’t the only Tyrannosaur, either - there was the smaller Alioramus which would have been more of a nuisance for baby Deinocheirus than the adults. And for other predators, there was the raptor Adasaurus, which may or may not have been a direct descendant of Velociraptor. As for non-dinosaurs, there was at least one Azdarchid, the small mammal Buginbaatar, and a variety of crocodilians that would have been non-negligible threats to young Deinocheirus. There were also plenty of turtles, which would have been a very noticeable part of the wider ecosystem. 

By Scott Reid 

Other: Deinocheirus is such a weird Ornithomimosaur, it gave its name to an entire group of them - these guys were slower than the Ornithomimids, and larger, but still had that general Ostrich-mimic shape. Instead of being lean and fast, they were large and slow. The discovery of the specimens of Deinocheirus that allowed us to actually learn what it looked like was a big one - since, prior to that point, Deinocheirus had been one of the most fascinating mysteries of dinosaur science, as all we had were two giant hands! Because of its large size, duck-like appearance, and above all, nightmare fodder in terms of past legend and current appearance, Deinocheirus has been fondly dubbed as Duck Satan for a makeshift common name.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources Under the Cut 

Arbour, V. M., Currie, P. J. and Badamgarav, D. (2014), The ankylosaurid dinosaurs of the Upper Cretaceous Baruungoyot and Nemegt formations of Mongolia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 172: 631–652.  

Barret, P. M. 2005. The diet of Ostrich dinosaurs (Theropoda: Ornithomimosauria). Palaeontology 48 (2): 347 - 358.

Barsbold, R. (1983). "Carnivorous dinosaurs from the Cretaceous of Mongolia [in Russian]." Trudy, Sovmestnaâ Sovetsko−Mongol’skaâ paleontologičeskaâ èkspediciâ, 19: 1–120.

Bell, P.R., Currie, P.J., Lee, Y.N. 2012. Tyrannosaur feeding traces on Deinocheirus (Theropoda: ?Ornithomimosauia) remains from the Nemegt Formation (Late Cretaceous), Mongolia. Cretaceous Research 37: 186 - 190.

Chinzorig, T., Kobayashi, Y., Tsogtbaatar, K., Currie, P.J., Takasaki, R., Tanaka, T., Iijima, M., Barsbold, R. 2017. Ornithomimosaurs from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia: manus morphological variation and diversity. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 494: 91 - 100.

Claessens, L. P. A., and M. A. Loewen. 2016. A redescription of Ornithomimus velox Marsh, 1890 (Dinosauria, Theropoda). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36(1):e1034593:1-15  

Fanti, F., Bell, P.R., Tighe, M., Milan, L.A., Dinelli, E. 2017. Geochemical fingerprinting as a tool for repatriating poached dinoaur fossils in Mongolia: A case study for the Nemegt Locality, Gobi Desert. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 494: 51 - 64.

Fowler DW, Woodward HN, Freedman EA, Larson PL, Horner JR (2011) Reanalysis of “Raptorex kriegsteini”: A Juvenile Tyrannosaurid Dinosaur from Mongolia. PLoS ONE 6(6): e21376.

Funston, G. F.; Mendonca, S. E.; Currie, P. J.; Barsbold, R. (2017). "Oviraptorosaur anatomy, diversity and ecology in the Nemegt Basin". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Gradzinski, R., J. Kazmierczak, J. Lefeld. 1968. Geographical and geological data form the Polish-Mongolian Palaeontological Expeditions. Palaeontologia Polonica 198: 33 - 82.

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[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Nemegtonykus citus

By Ripley Cook 

Etymology: Nemget Claw

First Described By: Lee et al., 2019

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Alvarezsauria, Alvarezsauroidea, Alvarezsauridae, Parvicursorinae

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: 70 million years ago, in the Maastrichtian of the Late Cretaceous 

Nemegtonykus is known from the Nemegt Formation of Ömnögovi, Mongolia 

Physical Description: Nemegtonykus is known from a partial skeleton, showing a one meter long, lightly built bipedal animal. Like other Alvarezsaurs, it had a long tail and long, thin legs. We don’t know much about its arms or head, but it’s reasonable to suppose it - like other Alvarezsaurs - would have had single thumb claws, and no other digits on its arms; and a small head, ending in a very pointed snout. Parvicursorines, like Nemegtonykus, were of the small and lightly-built vein of Alvarezsaurs - and the apparently much more diverse group - rather than the heavily built Patagonykines. As a small birdie dinosaur, Nemegtonykus would have been covered in feathers, and possibly even had small wing-like feathers on its arms as display structures.

Diet: Alvarezsaur diets is a bit of question - one of the most popular hypotheses is that Alvarezsaurs are insectivores, however there is still a question and they may have been more generalist omnivores. 

By José Carlos Cortés 

Behavior: Nemegtonykus, as an Alvarezsaur, would have been extremely specialized in speed - its legs were well built for running, both to escape predators and potentially search for prey. It also would have been fairly good at hopping, able to leap out of the way in times of danger or distress. It is possible that the little claws of Nemegtonykus would have been useful in digging up insects or other sources of food out of hard to reach places. Nemegtonykus, like other Alvarezsaurs, would have been a very skittish and anxious animal, using its ability to run to escape danger as quickly as possible. The feathers would have been useful both in thermoregulation (given its small size) and display to other members of the species; and it probably took care of its young to some extent.

Ecosystem: Nemegtonykus lived in the famous and diverse Nemegt Formation, an environment filled to bursting with different kinds of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. This was a vast wetland, flooded with river channels that created extensive lakes, mudflats, and floodplains, much like the modern Okavango Delta in Botswana. This swamp field was surrounded by extensive coniferous forests, where the ground became somewhat drier. This was an area of animals highly specialized for their environment - especially creatures specialized for feeding on water plants, making them all various kinds of vaguely-duck-like animals. There was Duck Satan Deinocheirus, and the ornithomimosaurs Gallimimus and Answerimimus who also had duck-like bills for feeding on soft plants. There was the Hadrosaur (Duck-Billed Dinosaur) Saurolophus, which also fed on soft, mushy plants; and the actual early duck-like thing, Teviornis. In terms of non-duck dinosaurs, there was the large tyrannosaur Tarbosaurus and the smaller Alioramus; Troodontids like Tochisaurus, Zanabazar, and Borogovia; a million kind of chickenparrots like Avimimus, Elmisaurus, Conchoraptor, Nemegtomaia, Nomingia, and Rinchenia; the Hesperornithine Brodavis; Pachycephalosaurs like Homalocephale and Prenocephale; Ankylosaurs such as Tarchia and Saichania; the titanosaur Nemegtosaurus; the Therizinosaur Therizinosaurus; the raptor Adasaurus; and another Alvarezsaur - Mononykus. There was also an Azhdarchid pterosaur, the mammal Buginbaatar, and a variety of crocodilians and turtles. 

By Scott Reid 

Other: Nemegtonykus was found alongside a specimen of Mononykus, potentially indicating that different Alvarezsaurs potentially socialized with each other, or at least didn’t avoid each other within their shared habitats. This may also indicate a level of niche partitioning between different Alvarezsaurs.

~ By Meig Dickson

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