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Itemirus
''Itemirus'' is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Turonian age of the Late Cretaceous period of Uzbekistan. Discovery ''Itemirus'' is known from a single small damaged fossil braincase or neurocranium, in 1958 found near the village of Itemir at the Dzharakuduk escarpment in layers of the Bissekty Formation. This holotype has accession number PIN 327/699. The type species, ''Itemirus medullaris'', was named and described by Sergei Kurzanov in 1976. The generic name refers to Itemir. The specific name refers to the medulla oblongata, the brain part encased by the partial braincase.Kurzanov, S. M. (1976) Braincase structure in the carnosaur ''Itemirus'' n. gen. and some aspects of the cranial anatomy of dinosaurs. Paleontological Journal 10:361-369. Classification Kurzanov noted anatomical similarities to the Tyrannosauridae and the Dromaeosauridae; he assigned ''Itemirus'' to a separate Itemiridae. In 2004 Thomas Holtz suggested it was a member of the Tyrann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bissekty Formation
The Bissekty Formation (sometimes referred to as Bissekt) is a geologic formation and Lagerstätte which crops out in the Kyzyl Kum desert of Uzbekistan, and dates to the Late Cretaceous Period. Laid down in the mid to late Turonian, it is dated to about 92 to 90 Ma (million years ago). Description The lithology of the sediment largely consists of cross bedded sandstones with interbeds of massive sandstone, well cemented intraformational conglomerate, siltstones and mudstones. Most of the fossils are found as clasts within the conglomerates. Fossil content The Bissekty Formation is characterised by a mix of marine, brackish, freshwater, and terrestrial animal fossils. This stands in contrast the strictly marine fossils found in the underlying Dzheirantui Formation, and indicates that the Bissekty was formed during the regression of a saltwater sea. The coastline expanded inland again in the upper portion of the Bissekty, represented by a proportional increase of fully aqu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dromaeosauridae
Dromaeosauridae () is a family of feathered theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Greek ('), meaning 'runner', and ('), meaning 'lizard'. In informal usage, they are often called raptors (after ''Velociraptor''), a term popularized by the film ''Jurassic Park''; a few types include the term "raptor" directly in their name and have come to emphasize their bird-like appearance and speculated bird-like behavior. Dromaeosaurid fossils have been found across the globe in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Antarctica, with some fossils giving credence to the possibility that they inhabited Australia as well. They first appeared in the mid-Jurassic Period (late Bathonian stage, about 167 million years ago) and survived until the end of the Cretaceous (Maastrichtian stage, 66 ma), existing until the Cretaceous–Paleogene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Velociraptorinae
Velociraptorinae is a subfamily of the theropod group Dromaeosauridae. The earliest velociraptorines are probably ''Nuthetes'' from the United Kingdom, and possibly ''Deinonychus'' from North America. However, several indeterminate velociraptorines have also been discovered, dating to the Kimmeridgian stage, in the Late Jurassic Period. These fossils were discovered in the Langenberg quarry, Oker near Goslar, Germany.van der Lubbe, T., Richter, U. and Knotschke, N. (2009).Velociraptorine dromaeosaurid teeth from the Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) of Germany" ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'', 54(3): 401-408. Description While most velociraptorines were generally small animals, at least one species may have achieved gigantic sizes comparable to those found among the dromaeosaurines. So far, this unnamed giant velociraptorine is known only from isolated teeth found on the Isle of Wight, England. The teeth belong to an animal the size of dromaeosaurines of the genus ''Utahraptor'', but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dromaeosaurinae
Dromaeosaurinae is a subfamily of the theropod group Dromaeosauridae. The earliest dromaeosaurine is ''Utahraptor'', dating back to the Early Cretaceous period in North America, however, some isolated teeth seems to represent an indeterminate species of dromaeosaurine, coming from the Late Jurassic period in Africa. If true, this will push their range to the Jurassic period, instead of the Cretaceous, as in most dromaeosaurs. Most dromaeosaurs are small carnivores, however, dromaeosaurines are represented by some of the largest species (''Achillobator'', ''Dakotaraptor'', ''Utahraptor''). So far, ''Dakotaraptor'' is the only dromaeosaurine with evidence of quill knobs, indicating a plumage; based on this, other members likely had them. Paleobiogeography Most dromaeosaurines lived in what is now Asia, North America and possibly Denmark during the Cretaceous period, from the Berriasian to the Maastrichtian stages. However, isolated teeth that may belong to African dromaeosaurines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bambiraptor
''Bambiraptor'' is a Late Cretaceous, 72-million-year-old, bird-like dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur described by scientists at the University of Kansas, Yale University, and the University of New Orleans. The holotype fossil is less than one meter long, although this specimen appears to be a juvenile, and it is possible that ''Bambiraptor'' is a juvenile ''Saurornitholestes''. It is even suspected that the type specimen is a chimera, based on the fact that "there are elements of three different similarly sized lower legs included in the holotype." Because of its small size, it was named ''Bambiraptor feinbergi'', after the popular Disney movie character (the name literally translates to "Bambi thief") and the surname of the wealthy family who bought and lent the specimen to the new Graves Museum of Natural History in Florida. Discovery The ''Bambiraptor'' skeleton was discovered in 1995 by 14-year-old fossil hunter Wes Linster, who was looking for dinosaur bones with his pare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eudromaeosauria
Eudromaeosauria ("true dromaeosaurs") is a subgroup of terrestrial dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaurs. They were relatively small to medium-sized, feathered hypercarnivores (with diets consisting almost entirely of other terrestrial vertebrates) that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. Eudromaeosaur fossils are known almost exclusively from the northern hemisphere. They first appeared in the early Cretaceous Period (early Aptian stage, about 124 million years ago) and survived until the end of the Cretaceous (Maastrichtian stage, Ma). The earliest known definitive eudromaeosaur is the dromaeosaurine '' Utahraptor ostrommaysi'', from the Cedar Mountain Formation, dated to 124 million years ago. However, the earlier (143-million-year-old) fossils such as those of '' Nuthetes destructor'' and several indeterminate teeth dating to the Kimmeridgian stage may represent eudromaeosaurs. Description While other dromaeosaurids filled a variety of specialized ecological niches, mainly th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Holtz
Thomas Richard Holtz Jr. (born September 13, 1965) is an American vertebrate palaeontologist, author, and principal lecturer at the University of Maryland's Department of Geology. He has published extensively on the phylogeny, morphology, ecomorphology, and locomotion of terrestrial predators, especially on tyrannosaurids and other theropod dinosaurs.Holtz, ''Thomas R. Holtz Jr.''. He wrote the book ''Dinosaurs'' and is the author or co-author of the chapters "Saurischia", "Basal Tetanurae", and "Tyrannosauroidea" in the second edition of ''The Dinosauria''. He has also been consulted as a scientific advisor for the ''Walking With Dinosaurs'' BBC series as well as the Discovery special ''When Dinosaurs Roamed America'', and has appeared in numerous documentaries focused on prehistoric life, such as '' Jurassic Fight Club'' on History and '' Monsters Resurrected'', ''Dinosaur Revolution'' and ''Clash of the Dinosaurs'' on Discovery. Holtz is also the director of the Science and Gl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saurornitholestes
''Saurornitholestes'' ("lizard-bird thief") is a genus of carnivorous dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Canada (Alberta) and the United States (Montana, New Mexico, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina). Two species have been named: ''Saurornitholestes langstoni'' in 1978 and ''Saurornitholestes sullivani'' in 2015. ''Saurornitholestes'' was a small bipedal meat-eating dinosaur, equipped with a sickle-claw on the foot. Discovery and naming In 1974 Canadian amateur paleontologist Irene Vanderloh discovered the skeleton of a small theropod near Steveville in Alberta. She showed it to John Storer of the Provincial Museum of Alberta, who brought it to the attention of Hans-Dieter Sues. In 1978 Sues named and described the specimen as the type species ''Saurornitholestes langstoni''. The generic name is in reference to the Saurornithoididae, due to the resemblance with this group that is today seen as part of the Troodontidae, and combines their nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deinonychus
''Deinonychus'' ( ; ) is a genus of Dromaeosauridae, dromaeosaurid Theropoda, theropod dinosaur with one described species, ''Deinonychus antirrhopus''. This species, which could grow up to long, lived during the early Cretaceous Period (geology), Period, about 115–108 million years ago (from the mid-Aptian to early Albian Stage (stratigraphy), stages). Fossils have been recovered from the U.S. states of Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Oklahoma, in rocks of the Cloverly Formation, Cedar Mountain Formation and Antlers Formation, though teeth that may belong to ''Deinonychus'' have been found much farther east in Maryland. Paleontology, Paleontologist John Ostrom's study of ''Deinonychus'' in the late 1960s revolutionized the way scientists thought about dinosaurs, leading to the "dinosaur renaissance" and igniting the debate on whether dinosaurs were endotherm, warm-blooded or ectotherm, cold-blooded. Before this, the popular conception of dinosaurs had been one of plodding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adasaurus
''Adasaurus'' ( ; meaning "Ada lizard") is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago. The genus is known from two partial specimens found in the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia that were partially described in 1983 by the paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold. ''Adasaurus'' was a large dromaeosaurid that was about long weighing . Unlike other dromaeosaurids, ''Adasaurus'' developed a rather small and blunt sickle claw that likely had a reduced use, and a recurved lacrimal bone; this latter trait is also shared with ''Austroraptor''. Though reduced, the sickle claw retained the characteristic rounded articulation of most dromaeosaurids. ''Adasaurus'' was originally regarded as a dromaeosaurine by Barsbold, a group that includes robust dromaeosaurs with deep jaws. Revisions made to the specimens have showed that this dromaeosaurid belongs to the Velociraptorinae which is composed of more lightly built animals like ''V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
