Avimimus
| Avimimus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous |
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| Life restoration of Avimimus portentosus. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Infraorder: | Oviraptorosauria |
| Family: | Avimimidae Kurzanov, 1981 |
| Genus: | Avimimus Kurzanov, 1981 |
| Species | |
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Avimimus (meaning "bird mimic") was a recently-discovered maniraptoran.[1] It was a very fast moving, light-weight, bird-like theropod dinosaur that lived in the late Cretaceous in what is now Mongolia, around 70 million years ago. that may have had feathers.
Flight? [change]
The forelimbs were relatively short. The bones of the hand were fused together, as in modern birds, and a ridge on the ulna (lower arm bone) was interpreted as an attachment point for feathers by Kurzanov.[1][2] Kurzanov, in 1987, also reported the presence of quill knobs,[1][3] and while Chiappe confirmed the presence of bumps on the ulna, their function remained unclear.[4] Kurzanov was so convinced they were attachment points for feathers that he concluded that Avimimus may have been capable of weak flight.[1] The presence of feathers is now widely accepted, but most paleontologists do not believe Avimimus could fly.[1]
References [change]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 'Avimimus'. In: Dodson, Peter et al. The Age of Dinosaurs. Publications International. p130. ISBN 0-7853-0443-6.
- ↑ Kurzanov S.M. 1981. "An unusual theropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia Iskopayemyye pozvonochnyye Mongolii (Fossil Vertebrates of Mongolia)." Trudy Sovmestnay Sovetsko-Mongolskay Paleontologiyeskay Ekspeditsiy (Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition), 15: 39-49. Nauka Moscow, 1981
- ↑ Kurzanov S.M. 1987. "Avimimidae and the problem of the origin of birds." Transactions of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition, 31: 5-92. [in Russian]
- ↑ Chiappe L.M. and Witmer L.M. 2002. Mesozoic birds: above the heads of dinosaurs. Berkeley: University of California Press, 536 pp. ISBN 0520200942
