Ornitholestes
Ornitholestes was a carnivorous dinosaur which lived in the Upper Jurassic period about 156–145 million years ago. It was about 2 metres long (6.6 feet), half of which was its long tail. Only one specimen of it has ever been found.
| Ornitholestes Temporal range: Upper Jurassic
| |
|---|---|
| |
| This is the only fossil of Ornitholestes (AMNH) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Class: | |
| Superorder: | |
| Order: | |
| Suborder: | |
| (unranked): | |
| Genus: | Ornitholestes Osborn, 1903
|
It is one of a group of small, fast-running dinosaurs which are classified as early Coelurosaurs. It is known from a partial skeleton found near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, in 1900. It was described by paleontologist Henry F. Osborn in 1903.
Description
Ornitholestes was a bipedal runner. Its small head suggests it ate small mammals, lizards, frogs, and hatchling dinosaurs. It could grasp prey with both hands. It is likely that all coelurosaurs had feathers.[1]
Similar dinosaurs
References
- ↑ Holtz, Thomas R.; Molnar, Ralph E. & Currie, Philip J. 2004 (2004). "Basal Tetanurae". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter & Osmólska, Halszka (ed.). The Dinosauria. 2nd ed, University of California Press. pp. 71–110. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)