Saurornitholestes

Taxobox
name = "Saurornitholestes"
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous

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image_width = 200px
image_caption = Skeleton of "Saurornitholestes langstoni" at the Museum of the Rockies.
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Saurischia
subordo = Theropoda
familia = Dromaeosauridae
genus = "Saurornitholestes"
genus_authority = Sues, 1978
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
*"S. langstoni" Sues, 1978 (type)
*"S. robustus" Sullivan, 2006

"Saurornitholestes" ("lizard-bird thief") is a genus of coyote-sized carnivorous dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Upper Campanian stage) of Alberta, Canada. Several partial skeletons, dozens of isolated bones, and scores of teeth are known from the badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta; most of these are housed at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, in Drumheller, Alberta.

Like other theropods in the family Dromaeosauridae, "Saurornitholestes" had a long, curving, blade-like claw on the second toe. "Saurornitholestes" was more long-legged and lightly built than other dromaeosaurids such as "Velociraptor" and "Dromaeosaurus". It resembles "Velociraptor" in having large, fanglike teeth in the front of the jaws. "Saurornitholestes" most closely resembles "Velociraptor", although the precise relationships of the Dromaeosauridae are still relatively poorly understood.

"Saurornitholestes" appears to have been the most common small theropod in Dinosaur Provincial Park, and teeth and bones are much more common than those of its more massive contemporary, "Dromaeosaurus". Little is known about what it ate and how it lived, but a tooth of "Saurornitholestes" has been found embedded in the wing bone of the pterosaur "Quetzalcoatlus". Whether it actually killed the pterosaur or merely scavenged an already dead animal is unknown.

Similar teeth are found in younger deposits, but whether they represent "S. langstoni" or a different, related species is unknown.

References

* Sullivan, R.M. (2006). "Saurornitholestes robustus", n. sp. (Theropoda:Dromaeosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous Kirtland Formation (De-Na-Zin member_), San Juan Basin, New Mexico." "NMMNH Bulletin" 35: 253-256.