New theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Japan provides critical implications for the early evolution of ornithomimosaurs.

ABSTRACT: Ornithomimosauria consists of the ostrich-mimic dinosaurs, most of which showing cursorial adaptations, that often exhibit features indicative of herbivory. Recent discoveries have greatly improved our knowledge of their evolutionary history, including the divergence into Ornithomimidae and Deinocheiridae in the Early Cretaceous, but the early part of their history remains obscured because their fossil remains are scarce in the Aptian-Albian sediments. In recent years, many isolated ornithomimosaur remains have been recovered from the Aptian Kitadani Formation of Fukui, central Japan. These remains represent multiple individuals that share some morphological features common to them but unknown in other ornithomimosaurs, suggesting a monospecific accumulation of a new taxon. As a result of

SUBMITTER: Hattori S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10484975 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature