“cloud/menace bird” |
CLASSIFICATION
see also: Genus Index, Classification
TIME
see also: Ages of the Mesozoic
PLACE
REMAINS
- [holotype]: vertebrae, scapula, partial pelvis, partial limbs
- 2 distal humeri
ESSAY
This raven-sized creature appears to be somewhere between dromaeosaurids and birds. It had a “sickle claw”, like dromaeosaurids, and feathered wings, like birds (feather impressions were not preserved, but anchor points are evident along the wing’s bones, as in many modern birds). It also had a bird-like sacrum. The fossil was found in two parts, the thorax in hindlimbs in one part, and the sacrum, pelvis, hindlimbs, and tail in the other. This led to some suspicion that it was a chimera, but given that the halves came out in the same position from cladistic analyses that tested them separately, coupled with additional anatomic and taphonomic details, it seems quite likely that both halves belonged to the same individual. |
IMAGES
Click on thumbnail to see full image.