Deltadromeus
Name:
Deltadromeus
(Delta runner).
Phonetic: Del-tah-dor-me-us.
Named By: Paul Sereno etal. - 1996.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Ceratosauria.
Species: D. agilis (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Estimated 8 meters long.
Known locations: Morocco - Bahariya Formation
and Kem Kem Beds.
Time period: Cenomanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Two individuals but of
partial remains. Skull is unknown.
Deltadromeus
was a mid-sized theropod that lived in North Africa, but while the
time period it is known from places it in the late (or alternatively
upper) Cretaceous, it actually roughly lived during the middle of
this period. The skull of this dinosaur is so far unknown but the
recovered post cranial remains suggest a fairly agile and fast predator
that may have preyed upon ornithopod dinosaurs similar to
Ouranosaurus.
Swift speed may have also helped Deltadromeus to
stay
out of the way of other much larger meat eating dinosaurs such
Carcharodontosaurus
and Spinosaurus,
both of which seem to have been
present in North Africa during the early Cenomanian.
Deltadromeus
has an uncertain future as a valid genus as another theropod named
Bahariasaurus
which was named in 1934 has been suggested as being
the same dinosaur as Deltadromeus. The problem
here is that the type
specimen of Bahariasaurus was destroyed in World
War Two, and without
further remains it is currently impossible to compare known
Bahariasaurus remains with Deltadromeus
fossils. Without the
possibility of establishing a link Deltadromeus
remains a valid
genus, but should it ever be proven that these genera are the same;
Deltadromeus would become a synonym to Bahariasaurus,
with all known
remains being reassigned to the latter genus.
Further reading
- Predatory Dinosaurs from the Sahara and Late Cretaceous Faunal
Differentiation. - Science, 272(5264): 986-991. - Paul C. Sereno,
Didier
B. Dutheil, M. Iarochene, Hans C. E. Larsson, Gabrielle H. Lyon, Paul
M. Magwene, Christian A. Sidor, David J. Varricchio, Jeffrey A. Wilson
- 1996.
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