#rativates

Dinosaur Park Diorama poster

A poster with an amazing diorama of the Dinosaur Park Formation in Canada. It features the azhdarchid pterosaur Cryodrakon!

252mya.com/dinopark1

By Jack Wood on @thewoodparable

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Name: Rativates evadens

Name Meaning: Ratite Seer

First Described: 2016

Described By: McFeeters et al. 

Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Ornithomimosauria, Ornithomimidae

Rativates is a newly described Ornithomimid that, rather than being named a “mimic” of modern Paleognaths (Emus, Ostrich, and the like), was named a predictor of them, which makes more sense temporally (in reality, Ostriches are Struthiomimus mimics, since they came second). It was found in Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada, dating back to about 77 to 75 million years ago, in the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous. It is known from a partial skeleton, including the snout, and parts of the vertebrae, though many of the bones are damaged. It was an adult or subadult about 8 years old, and was a fairly small ornithomimid compared to such genera as Struthiomimus. It had unusually short neural spines on its tail, and it had a very different hip structure from Ornithomimids it shared its habitat with, and it also had different foot claws, indicating that it fed on different organisms or occupied a different ecological niche than other Ornithomimids. It indicates that there was a major radiation of Ornithomimids in this region during the Campanian, based on its phylogenetic position. 

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rativates

Rativates evadens by Olorotitan