The Edmonton Journal has a story about a recent dinosaur find. In 2014, a remarkablely complete, small, carnivorous dinosaur in "exquisitely preserved" condition was discovered by University of Alberta paleontologist Clive Coy. The animal, called Saurornitholestes, lived about 76 million years ago.
Saurornitholestes is a small, feathered carnivorous dinosaur part of the dromaeosaurid family — also known as raptors — and was long thought to have been closely related to the velociraptor from Mongolia.
The skeleton was “exquisitely preserved,” with all the bones except for the tail preserved.
“Paleontology, in general, is a gigantic puzzle where most of the pieces are missing. The discovery and description of this specimen represents the recovery of many pieces of the puzzle,” said Phillip Currie, a paleontologist at the U of A.
Previously, saurornitholestes was only known from fragmentary remains and because of the belief it was related to velociraptor, some researchers called it velociraptor langstoni.
The discovery and subsequent research from U of A paleontologists Currie and Coy, along with David Evans and James and Louise Temerty at the Royal Ontario Museum, has changed that belief.
The team’s research focuses on the skull and highlights how saurornitholestes differs from velociraptor. It has a shorter and deeper skull than the velociraptor.
At the front of the skull’s mouth is a flat tooth with long ridges, believed to have been used for preening feathers. The same tooth has also been identified in velociraptor and other dromaeosaurids.
