[D] Nqwebasaurus thwazi [sG] [T]
Describer
Klerk, de, Forster, Sampson, Chinsamy & Ross, 2000
Time
Cretaceous Early
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria
Diet
Carnivore
Fossilsite
Upper Kirkwood Formation, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
Info
Genus - Typespecies
Nqwebasaurus thwazi, a small basal coelurosaur from an unnamed member of the Kirkwood Formation, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Mainly the appendicular skeleton, very well preserved. \\\"The specimen is articulated . . . and includes a fragmentary skull, seven postaxial cervical vertebrae, both pectoral girdles and forelimbs, partial femora, and both tibiae, fibulae, and pedes.
The dorsal, sacral, and caudal vertebrae are largely absent, although some isolated centra and neural arches are present. Most of the pelvis has been eroded away, although the pubic shafts remain.\\\" The fragmentary skull includes the frontals, a parietal, an incomplete basicranium, and sclerotic ring.
Nqwebasaurus thwazi has an elongate three-digit manus with a partially opposable first digit, a long and slender pes with a highly reduced metatarsal IV, and preserves gastroliths (stomach stones) in its abdominal region. As a basal coelurosaurian, Nqwebasaurus thwazi pushes back the Gondwanan record of this derived group of tetanuran theropods approximately 50 million years.
This confirms that coelurosaurians were present on the Gondwana supercontinent well before its main phase of fragmentation and supports the hypothesis that this clade could have achieved a global distribution early in their evolution. Nqwebasaurus is one of the most complete and best preserved Cretaceous theropods described thus far from Africa.
Klerk, de, Forster, Sampson, Chinsamy & Ross, 2000
Time
Cretaceous Early
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria
Diet
Carnivore
Fossilsite
Upper Kirkwood Formation, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
Info
Genus - Typespecies
Nqwebasaurus thwazi, a small basal coelurosaur from an unnamed member of the Kirkwood Formation, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Mainly the appendicular skeleton, very well preserved. \\\"The specimen is articulated . . . and includes a fragmentary skull, seven postaxial cervical vertebrae, both pectoral girdles and forelimbs, partial femora, and both tibiae, fibulae, and pedes.
The dorsal, sacral, and caudal vertebrae are largely absent, although some isolated centra and neural arches are present. Most of the pelvis has been eroded away, although the pubic shafts remain.\\\" The fragmentary skull includes the frontals, a parietal, an incomplete basicranium, and sclerotic ring.
Nqwebasaurus thwazi has an elongate three-digit manus with a partially opposable first digit, a long and slender pes with a highly reduced metatarsal IV, and preserves gastroliths (stomach stones) in its abdominal region. As a basal coelurosaurian, Nqwebasaurus thwazi pushes back the Gondwanan record of this derived group of tetanuran theropods approximately 50 million years.
This confirms that coelurosaurians were present on the Gondwana supercontinent well before its main phase of fragmentation and supports the hypothesis that this clade could have achieved a global distribution early in their evolution. Nqwebasaurus is one of the most complete and best preserved Cretaceous theropods described thus far from Africa.