Dineobellator
Name:
Dineobellator
(Din� warrior).
Phonetic: Di-ne-o-bel-la-tor.
Named By: Steven E. Jasinski, Robert M.
Sullivan & Peter Dodson - 2020.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae.
Species: D. notohesperus
(type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Estimated about 2.5 to 3 meters long.
Known locations: USA, New Mexico - Ojo Alamo
Formation.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial skull bones. Also
partial post cranial skeleton including humerus and ulna of arm as well
as some hand bones. Femurs and partial remains of feet. Rib and a
few caudal (tail) vertebrae.
Dineobellator
is a genus of dromaeosaurid
dinosaur that lived in North America during
the last stage of the Cretaceous. When compared to other dinosaurs,
Dineobellator seems to have been on the way to
developing some
advanced specialisations, and shows greater range of motion in both
hands and feet. Additionally there also seems to have been an
increased gripping strength, as well as greater movement of the base
of the tail (the whole tail would have been stiffened by tendons in
life and only moveable at the base). All of these features suggest
that Dineobellator might have been an
exceptionally agile predatory
dinosaur, even when compared to other dromaeosaurid dinosaurs.
By
the twenty-first century
it was accepted that probably most if not all dromaeosaurid dinosaurs
had feather coverings around all of their bodies. These were small
almost hair-like down-like feathers across most of the body (though
the extremities such as feet, hands and head usually lack them) and
larger pennaceous (vaned) feathers growing from the arms, tail
and sometimes legs. The presence and general arrangement of these
feathers is illustrated in an ever growing body of evidence, usually
by impressions in rocks that surround bones, but sometimes attachment
points on the bones themselves. The ulna (one of the forearm
bones) of Dineobellator clearly has what are
known as quill knobs.
These quill knobs are small raised bumps on the surface of the bone
that would have served as attachment points for pennaceous feathers on
the arms of Dineobellator. Other feathers such as
hail-like down and
further pennaceous feathers on the tail of Dineobellator
would also be
expected, as it would be incredibly unusual if they were not.
Dineobellator
lived in a very
diverse ecosystem which included many kinds of dinosaurs such as
ornithomimids,
tyrannosaurs,
troodonts,
sauropods,
ankylosaurs,
ceratopsians
and hadrosaurs,
as well as the giant
pterosaur
Quetzalcoatlus.
Further reading
- New Dromaeosaurid
Dinosaur (Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae) from New Mexico and
Biodiversity of Dromaeosaurids at the end of the Cretaceous. -
Scientific Reports. 10 (1). - Steven E. Jasinski, Robert
M. Sullivan & Peter Dodson - 2020.
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