Kol
Name: Kol
(foot).
Phonetic: Kol.
Named By: A. H. Turner, S. J. Nesbitt
& M. A. Norell - 2009.
Classification: Chordata, reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Alvarezsauridae.
Species: K. ghuva (type).
Diet: Insectivore?
Size: At least 120 centimetres long based
upon scaling analysis of known fossils to more complete relative genera, but possibly larger at around 2 meters long.
Known locations: Mongolia - Djadochta Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Single foot.
So
far at the time of writing the only known fossils of Kol
are of a
complete foot. This foot however is enough to identify Kol
as an
alvarezsaurid
dinosaur, and one that was fairly big. The foot of
the Kol holotype specimen is about twice the size
of the foot of
Shuvuuia,
another genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the same
Djadochta Formation as Kol. If the remainder of Kol
was in proportion
with the rest of Shuvuuia, then Kol would have
been roughly one
hundred and twenty centimetres long given that Shuvuuia
was about sixty
centimetres long. This would mean that Kol was a
fairly large
alvarezsaur, though the type genus of the group Alvarezsaurus
is
estimated to have been up to two meters long. There has been
speculation however that Kol may have been even
larger than this
Kol
ghuva is derived from the Mongolian words for ‘foot’ and
‘beautiful', and a full translation to English grants the name as
‘beautiful foot’.
Further reading
- A Large Alvarezsaurid from the Cretaceous of Mongolia. -
American Museum Novitates 3648: 1–14. - A. H. Turner,
S. J. Nesbitt & M. A. Norell - 2009.
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