Nqwebasaurus thwazi
Nqwebasaurus is a probable ornithomimosaurian theropod from the Early Cretaceous of South Africa. The genus contains a single species, Nqwebasaurus thwazi, representing the oldest known coelurosaur in Africa and the evidence for basal coelurosaurian dinosaurs inhabiting Gondwana since the earliest Cretaceous period.
Article
5 sectionsContents
- History of discovery
- Description
- Classification
- See also
- References
Nqwebasaurus is a probable ornithomimosaurian theropod from the Early Cretaceous of South Africa. The genus contains a single species, Nqwebasaurus thwazi, representing the oldest known coelurosaur in Africa and the evidence for basal coelurosaurian dinosaurs inhabiting Gondwana since the earliest Cretaceous period.
== History of discovery == The type specimen of Nqwebasaurus was discovered from the Kirkwood Formation of the Uitenhage Group by William J. de Klerk of the Albany Museum and Callum Ross of the Stony Brook University in July 1996 during a joint expedition. The fossil is remarkably complete and is considered an extremely rare find as no coelurosaur fossils had previously been found in Africa at this time. It has an unofficial nickname "Kirky", since it was found in the Kirkwood Formation.