Elmisaurus
Name:
Elmisaurus
(Foot sole lizard).
Phonetic: El-me-sore-us.
Named By: Halszka Osmolska - 1981.
Synonyms: Chirostenotes rarus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Oviraptorosauria, Caenagnathoidea,
Caenagnathidae.
Species: E. rarus (type).
Diet: Omnivore?
Size: Unknown due to lack of fossil material.
Known locations: Mongolia.
Time period: Campanian/Maastrichtian of the
Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Feet, hands.
A little known oviraptorid, Elmisaurus is based upon very few remains. Initially cited as a species of the North American Chirostenotes, it was quickly named as a distinct genus. Still, the Chirostenotes connection did not end there as in 1989 the palaeontologist Philip Currie established a second species, Elmisaurus elegans based upon oviraptorid fossils from North America. In 1997 Hans-Dieter Sues referred the fossils then belonging to Elmisaurus as actually belonging to Chirostenotes, thus establishing the second species of this genus, C. elegans.
Further reading
- Coossified tarsometatarsi in theropod dinosaurs and their bearing on
the problem of bird origins. - Palaeontologica Polonica 42:79-95. - H.
Osmolska - 1981.
- The first records of Elmisaurus (Saurischia, Theropoda) from North
America. - Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 26(6):1319-1324. - P. J.
Currie - 1989.
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