Machairasaurus
Machairasaurus was a small, bird-like dinosaur with a parrot-like beak and long, blade-shaped claws on its hands. It lived in a hot desert in what is now Inner Mongolia, China, about 80 million years ago. Scientists think it used its claws to gather plants to eat, not to catch prey.13
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Fun facts
Machairasaurus had very long, slender claws on its fingers that were shaped like curved swords, which is how it got its name.1
Its claws were about four times as long as they were tall at the base, making them blade-like.1
Only a partial arm and hand were found, but scientists think the whole dinosaur was about 1.5 metres long, roughly the size of a large dog.1
Machairasaurus lived in a hot, dry desert environment, similar to the modern Australian or Sonoran deserts.1
It belonged to a group of oviraptorids called Ingeniinae, which includes other dinosaurs like Heyuannia and Conchoraptor.31
The fossils of Machairasaurus were found alongside many fossils of the dinosaur Protoceratops, which was also common in that area.1
Most asked questions about Machairasaurus
?What did Machairasaurus eat?
It was an oviraptorosaur, which were likely omnivores that ate plants, eggs, and small animals. Scientists think it used its claws to forage.21
?Did Machairasaurus have feathers?
Yes, it was a bird-like theropod dinosaur, and like many oviraptorids it probably had feathers.2
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Machairasaurus
- Named by
- Longrich et al. 20103
- Group
- Odd feathered dinos
- Family / clade
- Oviraptoridae3
- Classification
- Theropoda > Oviraptorosauria3
- Age of the rocks
- 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)3
- Rock formations
- Bayan Mandahu3
- Countries
- China3
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
- Discovery
- Machairasaurus was named in 2010 by Nicholas Longrich, Philip Currie, and Dong Zhiming based on a partial arm and hand found in the Bayan Mandahu Formation of Inner Mongolia, China.31
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure exactly how old the Bayan Mandahu rocks are, so the age of Machairasaurus is an estimate based on similar fossils.1
Where the facts come from
- A new oviraptorid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Bayan Mandahu, Inner Mongolia (onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
- Machairasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Machairasaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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