Archaeornithoides
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
Archaeornithoides
fossil |
||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Archaeornithoides deinosauriscus Elzanowski et al., 1992 |
Archaeornithoides deinosauriscus is an indeterminate maniraptoriform theropod dinosaur that was found in Late Cretaceous Djadokhta formation beds located in Bayn Dzak, Mongolia. The remains, consisting of a juvenile skull fragment comprehending paired maxillae and dentaries and also palate bones found in river sandstone, were described by Elzanowski et al. in 1992. The etymology of the generic name refers to the animal’s character as “similar to an ancient bird” while the specific epithet alludes to the animal’s small size for a dinosaur. A peculiarity about the generic name is that there is a genus Ornithoides that lived in late Jurassic North America. Archaeornithoides was hailed by Elżanowski & Wellnhofer (1993) as the dinosaur closest, phylogenetically, to birds, characterized by an interdigitated suture between the premaxilla and maxilla and lack of interdental plates. However posterior phylogenetic analysis on the remain of this small carnivore displaying similarities to both troodonts and dromaeosaurs has yielded an uncertain position in Maniraptoriformes.
[edit] References
- Elżanowski, Andrzej & Wellnhofer, Peter (1993): Skull of Archaeornithoides deinosauriscus from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. American Journal of Science 293-A-A: 235-252. PDF fulltext
- The Theropod Database
- See entry on Archaeornithoides at DinoData (registration required, free)
