Rinchenia

Rinchenia
Rinchenia mongoliensis , graphic head study
Temporal occurrence
Upper Cretaceous (early Maastrichtian )
72 to 69.9 million years
Locations
Mongolia ( Nemegt formation )
Systematics
Lizard dinosaur (Saurischia) Theropoda Maniraptora Oviraptorosauria Oviraptoridae Rinchenia
Scientific name
Rinchenia
Barsbold , 1997
Art
Rinchenia mongoliensis ( Barsbold , 1986)

Rinchenia is a genus theropod dinosaur from the group of oviraptorosauria from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia . The only known species is Rinchenia mongoliensis .

Rinchenia was a large oviraptorid with a crest of the skull. Like other Oviraptorosauria it was a biped (on two legs) running, presumably feathered animal with a toothless beak and presumably herbivorous or omnivorous diet.

Find

So far only a single, almost complete skeleton is known ( holotype , specimen number GI 100 / 32A), which was discovered near Altan-Ula in Aimag Ömnö-Gobi , Mongolia . Stratigraphically , the find comes from the Nemegt formation and is attributed to the early Maastrichtian .

Rinchen Barsbold (1986) originally described this find as a new species of Oviraptor , Oviraptor mongoliensis , until he established the new genus Rinchenia in 1997 . However, since Barsbold did not name any special characteristics for the new genus, the name Rinchenia was considered a noun nudum ("naked name") until it was discovered by Osmólska et al. (2004) was used.

features

Rinchenia was one of the larger oviraptorids with a length of about 2.5 meters. His cranial crest extended almost over the entire skull and reached the highest point above the tearbone (lacrimale). In addition to the intermaxillary bone (premaxillary), the nasal bone (nasals) and the frontal bone (frontal), the parietal bone (parietal) was also involved in the formation of the ridge. The sacrum consisted of 6 and the tail of 32 vertebrae. In contrast to Oviraptor , the postcranium (the residual skeleton that adjoins the skull) was lighter and the cervical vertebrae were not as high.

literature

• Halszka Osmólska , Philip J. Currie , Rinchen Barsbold : Oviraptorosauria. In: David B. Weishampel , Peter Dodson , Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 165-183, here pp. 168, 182.
• Rinchen Barsbold: Oviraptorosauria. In: Philip J. Currie, Kevin Padian (Eds.): Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. Academic Press, San Diego CA et al. 1997, ISBN 0-12-226810-5 , p. 506.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , pp. 154-155, online .
2. ↑ Michael Mortimer: Oviraptorosauria. In: The Theropod Database. Archived from the original on July 8, 2009 ; Retrieved July 30, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Rinchenia mongoliensis. In: DinoData. Archived from the original on September 12, 2011 ; Retrieved July 30, 2014 .