Name:
Dromaeosauroides
(Dromaeosaurus like).
Phonetic: Dro-may-o-sor-roy-deez.
Named By: P. Christiansen & N. Bonde - 2003.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Reptilia, Saurischia, Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae.
Species: D. bornholmensis (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Unknown.
Known locations: Denmark - Jydegaard Formation,
Tornhøj Member.
Time period: Berriasian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Teeth.
Dromaeosauroides
is what is called a ‘tooth taxon’ as so far this dinosaur only has
fossil teeth attributed to it. These teeth seem to come from a
dromaeosaurid
theropod dinosaur, and this is reason why for the name
which means Dromaeosaurus-like. Comparison of these
teeth to those of
other dromaeosaurids suggests that Dromaeosauroides
attained lengths of
about three to four meters. Large fossil teeth attributed to the genus
Nuthetes
may actually represent further fossils of Dromaeosauroides.
Because
Dromaeosauroides is only known from teeth, many
consider the genus to
be dubious given that it would be very difficult to attribute bones to
the genus without a direct asssociation to the teeth. That said,
Dromaeosauroides remains one of the so far few
dinosaur genera to come
from Scandinavia.
Further reading
- The first dinosaur from Denmark. - Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und
Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 227(2):287-299. - P. Christiansen &
N. Bonde - 2003.
- Theropod dinosaur teeth from the lowermost Cretaceous Rabekke
Formation on Bornholm, Denmark. - Geobios 41 (2): 253. - J. Lindgren,
P. J. Currie, J. Rees, M. Siverson, S. Lindström & C. Alwmark -
2008.