Migmanychion

Say it: MIG-man-ee-ON

Name means: “claw mixture”1

Ate: MeatMeat-eating dinosEarly Cretaceous

Migmanychion was a small, meat-eating dinosaur that lived about 121 million years ago in what is now China. It had a very strange hand with claws that were all different sizes and shapes, which is how it got its name 'claw mixture'.1 2

Lived

121 to 120 million years ago5

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Pigeon Hill, near Taipingqiao village, Inner Mongolia, China5 2

Food

Meat5

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Migmanychion's hand had three fingers, each with a different sized claw. The second finger's claw was longer and shallower than the first, and the third finger's claw was only half the size of the second.2

Scientists think Migmanychion was closely related to a mysterious dinosaur from Japan called Fukuivenator, but they are not sure exactly where it fits in the dinosaur family tree.2

Only one partial skeleton of Migmanychion has been found, including a complete hand, some ribs, and part of the arm. No skull or teeth have been discovered yet.2

The fossils of Migmanychion were found at the Pigeon Hill locality, which is famous for preserving many other Early Cretaceous animals and plants from the Jehol Biota.2

Migmanychion lived about 121 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period, when the area was covered with lakes and volcanoes.2

AI-made picture of Migmanychion — An AI-made picture of how Migmanychion might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Migmanychion

?How big was Migmanychion?

Scientists do not know its exact size because only a partial arm and ribs have been found. It was small, but no full body length or weight estimate is available.1 3

?What did Migmanychion eat?

It was a meat-eating dinosaur, but no skull or teeth have been found, so scientists cannot say exactly what it ate.1

?Did Migmanychion have feathers?

No direct feather fossils have been found for Migmanychion, but it belongs to the maniraptoran group, which includes feathered dinosaurs and birds, so it may have had feathers.1 3

?Where did Migmanychion live?

It lived in what is now Inner Mongolia, China, about 121 million years ago, in an area with lakes and volcanoes.1 4

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Migmanychion
Named by: Wang et al. 20235
Group: Meat-eating dinos
Family / clade: Maniraptora5
Classification: Theropoda5
Age of the rocks: 121 to 120 million years (Aptian)5
Rock formations: Longjiang5
Countries: China5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Migmanychion was named in 2023 by a team of scientists led by Xuri Wang. The fossils were found at the Pigeon Hill locality in Inner Mongolia, China, and the name means 'claw mixture' because of the weird mix of claw shapes on its hand.5 1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly where Migmanychion belongs in the dinosaur family tree. It might be an early relative of oviraptorosaurs, or a type of paravian dinosaur, but more fossils are needed to know for sure.2

Where the facts come from

Migmanychion (en.wikipedia.org)
A new theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Longjiang Formation of Inner Mongolia (China) (sciencedirect.com)
Newly identified theropod dinosaur had strange hands (phys.org)
中国地质科学院地质研究所 (igeo.cgs.gov.cn)
Migmanychion in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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