In Depth
Tanycolagreus has been dubbed a run of the mill kind of Jurassic predator. Small and lightweight, Tanycolagreus probably focused its attentions on hunting smaller dinosaurs that were too difficult for larger predators to live on. However the holotype specimen is of a three meter subadult, with further referred material indicating a size approaching at least four meters long. With this in mind it may be that Tanycolagreus was not restricted to hunting just smaller dinosaurs.
A premaxilla that was originally referred to Stokesosaurus has since been attributed to Tanycolagreus, although some palaeontologists have drawn comparisons between these two dinosaurs with the suggestion that they may be synonymous. Both are of similar size and build, and since the holotype and most complete specimen is of a sub adult, the true adult form may in fact be closer. Also Stokesosaurus is known from incomplete material making proper comparison between it and Tanycolagreus difficult.
Further Reading
– Ornitholestes hermanni, a new compsognathoid dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 19(12): 459–464. – Henry Fairfield Osborn – 1903. – New skeleton of Coelurus fragilis from the Morrison Formation of Wyoming. – Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18(3): 64A – C. A. Miles, K. Carpenter & K. C. Cloward – 1998. – New small theropod from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming. The Carnivorous Dinosaurs. – Indiana University Press, Bloomington 23-48 – K. Carpenter, C. A. Miles & K. C. Cloward – 2005.
