Richardoestesia

Richardoestesia was a meat-eating dinosaur, and some studies think it may have eaten fish because its teeth are often found in marine sites. Its long, slender teeth were good for catching small animals like lizards and mammals.14

Nobody knows for sure because only its teeth have been found. One estimate from a tooth in Wyoming suggests it weighed about 100 kilograms (220 pounds), but scientists are not certain.4

Richardoestesia lived during the Late Cretaceous, about 76.5 to 75 million years ago, based on teeth from the Dinosaur Park Formation. Some similar teeth are much older, from the Late Jurassic, but those may belong to different dinosaurs.1

Yes, Richardoestesia was a theropod dinosaur, a meat-eater related to raptors and other bird-like dinosaurs. It is known only from its teeth, not from a full skeleton.1

Scientists have only found Richardoestesia's teeth, not its body fossils. That is why it is called a 'form taxon', because they group similar-looking teeth together without knowing the whole animal.1

Some scientists think Richardoestesia might have eaten fish because its teeth are often found in marine rocks, but nobody knows if it could swim. It was probably a land dinosaur that sometimes hunted near water.1