Nqwebasaurus
Name:
Nqwebasaurus
(Nqweba lizard).
Phonetic: kwe-bah-sore-us.
Named By: W. J. de Klerk, C. A. Forster,
S. D. Sampson & C. F. Ross - 2000.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Theropoda, Coelurosauria, Maniraptoriformes, Ornithomimosauria.
Species: N. thwazi (type).
Diet: Omnivore?
Size: About 90 centimetres long, but fully grown
adults may have been larger.
Known locations: South Africa - Kirkwood
Formation.
Time period: Tithonian of the Jurassic to
Valanginian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial individual,
probably of a juvenile.
Nqwebasaurus
was a small theropod from probably the early Cretaceous of Southern
Africa, but exactly what kind has been hard to establish. Current
thinking is that Nqwebasaurus was actually a
primitive
ornithomimosaur,
since specimens of Nqwebasaurus seem to show fewer
teeth in the jaws than those of other theropods. This would follow
the pattern of tooth reduction seen in ornithomimosaurs with genera
like Pelecanimimus
possessing a number of teeth, Harpymimus
having
reduced teeth, to late Cretaceous forms like Gallimimus
having no
teeth, just a keratinous bill.
Like
with ornithomimosaurs, the exact diet of Nqwebasaurus
is
uncertain. Nqwebasaurus was first envisioned as a
meat eater, but
the discovery of gastroliths, and reduced teeth count suggest that
Nqwebasaurus may have been a herbivore. However it
should be
remembered that while gastroliths are usually attributed to
herbivores, some predators are known to use them as well,
particularly those that eat fish and invertebrates. There is also
the large theropod Lourinhanosaurus
that was also found with
gastroliths in a position that suggests that they were inside the
stomach of the living dinosaur. It is not unreasonable to suggest
that Nqwebasaurus might have even been an omnivore.
Further reading
- A new coelurosaurian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of South
Africa, W. J. de Klerk, C. A. Forster, S. D. Sampson
& C. F. Ross - 2000.
- New information on Nqwebasaurus thwazi, a
coelurosaurian theropod
from the Early Cretaceous (Hauteriverian?) Kirkwood Formation in
South Africa, J. N. Choiniere, C. A. Forster &
W. J. de Klerk - 2012.
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