Adasaurus
Name: Adasaurus
(Ada’s lizard).
Phonetic: Ay-dah-sore-us.
Named By: Rinchen Barsbold - 1983.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae, Velociraptorinae.
Species: A. mongoliensis
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Holotype originally estimated to be around
2-2.4 meters in length, A second referred specimen suggests that this
dinosaur may have atrually approached 3.5 meters in length
Known locations: Mongolia, Bayankhongor Province
- Nemegt Formation.
Time period: Late (late Campanian to early
Maastrichtian) Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Initially based upon the
description of a partial skull and incomplete post cranial skeleton of
single dinosaur, a second partial skeleton has now been described for
the genus.
Adasaurus
is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late
Cretaceous.
Like with its relatives, Adasaurus
was a hunter of
other animals, quite possibly including other dinosaurs. The
primary killing
weapons for Adasaurus would have been the two
enlarged sickle claws on
its feet, which may have been used to jab at prey. However, while
enlarged, the sickle claws of Adasaurus seem to have been smaller than
those of some relative dinosaur genera. Although not
confirmed, because Adasaurus is a dromaeosaurid
dinosaur, it is
expected to have had at least some feathers present on the body in
life.
Adasaurus
was named after an evil spirit called Ada which appears in Mongolian
mythology. The species name mongoliensis simply means ‘From
Mongolia’. Adasaurus is one of many dinosaurs
recovered from the
world famous Nemegt Formation, which also holds other notable
dinosaur genera such as Alioramus,
Gallimimus,
Avimimus,
Therizinosaurus
and Tarbosaurus
amongst an ever increasing number of
discovered dinosaurs.
Further reading
Carnivorous dinosaurs from the Cretaceous of Mongolia. - Rinchen
Barsbold - 1983.
- Reexamination of Adasaurus mongoliensis
(Dinosauria: Theropoda) from
the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. - Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology. 26 (supp. 03): 88A. - K. Kubota & R.
Barsbold - 2006.
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