HOME | DD

DrPolaris — Numidomimus africanus

#dinosaur #abelisauroid #speculativeevolution #speculativebiology #speculativezoology
Published: 2018-09-14 13:24:14 +0000 UTC; Views: 5368; Favourites: 85; Downloads: 12
Redirect to original
Description When a single, slender tibia was uncovered at Faiyum, paleontologists assumed the remains to belong to a uniquely African Ornithomimosaur lineage and was named Numidomimus as a result. However, when additional, more complete remains came to light, it was ascertained that this animal was actually a late surviving Elaphrosaurine Noasaurid. Putative members of this group have been found in Early Cretaceous deposits in West Africa but, due to our poor knowledge of Late Cretaceous African dinosaur faunas, their presence has gone undetected leading to an extensive ghost lineage. Numidomimus was roughly 6m long, highly cursorial and probably herbivorous or omnivorous. Although no skull material has been recovered, the rest of the skeleton was similar to that of Elaphrosaurus and Limusaurus, suggesting an equivalent lifestyle. Relatives of Numidomimus sadly vanish from Africa's fossil record during the Early Miocene, and their niche has been taken over by Avimimid Oviraptorosaurs.
Related content
Comments: 2

Lediblock2 [2018-09-14 14:49:43 +0000 UTC]

Oh man, Elaphrosaurus is a great animal - good to see it getting represented in spec.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

DrPolaris In reply to Lediblock2 [2018-09-14 21:54:12 +0000 UTC]

Yeah I love Elaphrosaurus as well! I really wanted to have some interesting scaly theropods in my project.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0