Elmisaurus

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Elmisaurus
Fossil range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Infraorder: Oviraptorosauria
Family: Caenagnathidae
Genus: Elmisaurus
Binomial name
Elmisaurus rarus
Osmólska, 1981

Elmisaurus is an extinct genus of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It was a theropod belonging to the Oviraptorosauria. Its fossils have been found in Asia and North America. It's known from only its feet and hands.

The type species, E. rarus, was described by Halszka Osmólska in 1981.[1] A second species, E. elegans (a North American form originally described as a species of Ornithomimus by William Parks in 1933), was referred in 1989 to Elmisaurus.[2][3] The frequent mis-assignment of this species is probably due to poor preservation and its geographical distance from the type species. More recently, Hans-Dieter Sues demonstrated that this supposed second species of Elmisaurus is actually a junior synonym of Chirostenotes pergracilis.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Osmólska, H. (1981). Coossified tarsometatarsi in theropod dinosaurs and their bearing on the problem of bird origins. Palaeontologica Polonica 42:79-95.
  2. ^ Parks, W.A. (1933). New species of dinosaurs and turtles from the Upper Cretaceous formations of Alberta. University of Toronto Studies, Geological Series 34:1-33.
  3. ^ Currie, P.J. (1989). The first records of Elmisaurus (Saurischia, Theropoda) from North America. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 26(6):1319-1324.
  4. ^ Sues, H.-D. (1997). "On Chirostenotes, a Late Cretaceous oviraptorosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from western North America." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(4):698-716.

[edit] External links