DinoGuide: Oviraptorosaur

Our bizarre new oviraptorosaur is unlike any other known to science. It is a new species of dinosaur that has still not been named.

Our oviraptorosaur is the largest of its kind that has yet been discovered. This oviraptorosaur is also the most complete of its type in the world. The dinosaur on display in Dinosaurs in Their Time is a cast of the combined bones of two specimens discovered very near each other in the Hell Creek formation of South Dakota.

Our newest dinosaur has a startling array of features, and it differs significantly from all of its nearest relatives. The skeleton poses many intriguing riddles, and its study will reveal the behavior of these mysterious dinosaurs for the first time.

This dinosaur has been named oviraptorosaur because it was originally thought to belong to the Oviraptoridae, the group of dinosaurs that includes Oviraptor. However, Carnegie Museum researchers now believe that this dinosaur belongs to the Caenagnathidae, a related but poorly understood dinosaur group.

To learn more about our research on this new dinosaur, visit our Field Guide to the Oviraptorosaur.

CARNEGIE SPECIMEN NUMBER:
CM 78002
Cast reconstructed from CM 78000 & 78001

SCIENTIFIC NAME MEANING:
"Relative of egg thief reptile"

CLASSIFICATION:
Dinosauria : Saurischia : Theropoda : Tetanurae : Oviraptorosauria

LENGTH:
Up to 9 feet (3 meters)

GEOLOGICAL FORMATION & LOCALITY:
Harding County, near Buffalo, South Dakota; Hell Creek Formation

COLLECTOR:
Fred Nuss, 1998; cast purchased from Triebold Paleontology, Inc., 2004

TIME PERIOD:
Late Cretaceous, 66–68 million years ago

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