Incisivosaurus

Drawing of the skull of Incisivosaurus

• China, Liaoning ( Yixian Formation)

• Incisivosaurus gauthieri

Incisivosaurus is a genus theropod dinosaur from the group of Oviraptorosauria from the Lower Cretaceous of China. The only way Incisivosaurus gauthieri was first described in 2002. Incisivosaurus was a small, bipedal running theropod, which is characterized particularly by the eponymous, highly elongated incisors ( incisors ) are reminiscent of those of lagomorphs ( Lagomorpha ) or rodents ( Rodentia ). Maybe it was a herbivore or an omnivore.

Fund and naming

Incisivosaurus is known by a nearly complete skull and a partial neck vertebra ( holotype, IVPP V13326 Catalog number ) arranged in about 128 million year old sediments ( Barremian ) of the Yixian Formation were discovered a fossil-rich layer sequence of the Jehol Group. The site is located near the town of Beipiao in the Chinese province of Liaoning. The genus name is derived from the Latin Incisivosaurus incisus ( " cut") and the Greek σαῦρος ( sauros - " lizard" ) from; the Artepitheth gauthieri honors the paleontologist Jacques Gauthier, a pioneer of phylogenetic systematics.

Characteristics and systematics

Incisivosaurus reached less than a meter in length and was probably feathered like most Maniraptora. In its first description noted Xu et al. that this species was a very basal Oviraptorosauria and thus more primitive than Caudipteryx or Oviraptoridae. The approximately 10 cm long skull shows the most pronounced dentition all Oviraptorosauria - many other Oviraptorosauria had no teeth. Another study by Osmólska et al. from 2004 shows more distinctive features ( autapomorphies ), as the long snout, which accounted for about half the length of the skull, the thin lower jaw, which showed a long skull window, and the long, flattened incisors from the premaxillary bone ( premaxilla ) on front end of the upper jaw sprang. Other features, however, were typical of Oviraptorosauria and allow classification within this group; some skull features show even a kinship with the Therizinosauroidea, a relative of the Oviraptorosauria group may also fed on herbivorous. Maybe Incisivosaurus is identical to Protarchaeopteryx, another basal Oviraptorosauria.

In popular culture

Incisivosaurus dipped in the third part of the six -part television series Prehistoric Park - extinction was yesterday; in the film, the animal used colorful wing feathers for display.