Talos
Name: Talos
(After a giant bronze automaton from Greek Mythology).
Phonetic: Tay-los.
Named By: Lindsay E. Zanno, David J.
Varricchio, Patrick M. O'Connor, Alan L. Titus &
Michael J. Knell - 2011.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Troodontidae.
Species: T. sampsoni (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Roughly estimated at about 2 meters long.
Known locations: USA, Utah - Kaiparowits
Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial post cranial remains
including rear limbs, partial pelvis, vertebrae and a forelimb bone.
Talos
is so far only known from a partial post cranial skeleton that is
mostly represented by the rear limbs. However when these remains are
scaled to the same proportions as other more complete troodontid
genera, a rough estimate of around two meters in length can be
attained for the animal. Like other troodonts
and earlier
dromaeosaurs,
Talos had an enlarged sickle shaped
killing claw on
each foot.
Talos
is the first genus of troodontid dinosaur recovered from the
Kaiparowits Formation of Utah. Other theropods known from this
formation at this time include oviraptosaurs
and probable
ornithomimosaurs,
though the principal predatory threat would have
still belonged to tyrannosaurs,
with the mid-sized genus
Teratophoneus
also known, as well as isolated but not so well
preserved remains of even larger tyrannosaurs.
A
little bit further South in the Campanian aged Wahweap Formation,
another tyrannosaur named Lythronax
was roaming around at the same
time as Talos, and it’s not wholly
inconceivable that the two may
have crossed paths since living animals would not have been confined to
current fossil locations.
Further reading
- A new troodontid theropod, Talos sampsoni
gen. et sp. nov.,
from the Upper Cretaceous Western Interior Basin of North America.
- PLoS ONE 9 (6): e24487 - Lindsay E. Zanno, David
J. Varricchio, Patrick M. O'Connor, Alan L. Titus &
Michael J. Knell - 2011.
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