In Depth
Incisivosaurus was a rather bizarre looking dinosaur thanks to its oversized front teeth of the upper jaw. More interesting though is the fact that these teeth show wear patterns that fit in with a herbivorous diet, an indication that although a theropod, Incisivosaurus was at the very least partially herbivorous. Apart from this, Incisivosaurus was a primitive oviraptosaur and possible ancestor to the later oviraptosaurids that lived at the end of the Cretaceous. Later oviraptorids would have toothless beaks, but the discovery of Incisivosaurus indicates how their toothed ancestors may have looked.
There has been speculation that Incisivosaurus may be the same genus as the earlier named Protarchaeopteryx, though a lack of fossils for both genera makes it impossible to be certain of this at the time of writing.
Further Reading
- An unusual oviraptorosaurian dinosaur from China. - X. Xu, Y.-N. Cheng, X.-L. Wang & C.-H. Chang - 2002. - Cranial Osteology of the Theropod Dinosaur Incisivosaurus gauthieri (Theropoda: Oviraptorosauria). - Amy M. Balanoff, Xing Xu, Matsufune Yoshimura & Mark A. Norell - 2009.
