Caenagnathus
SEE-nag-NAY-thus
"recent jaw"
Type species Caenagnathus collinsi
- Lived
- 84 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Caenagnathidae
- Found in
- Canada and United States
- Named by
- Sternberg 1940
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
75 million years ago
Habitat
It lived on the river plains recorded in the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta. Gorgosaurus, Edmontonia and Dromaeosaurus lived in the same region.
Field notes
About Caenagnathus
What it was like
Caenagnathus was a feathered, toothless dinosaur from the oviraptor group, with a long, slender lower jaw that ended in a beak. It walked on two long legs.
Its jaws look a little like those of birds, and when they were first found they were thought to belong to a bird.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Alberta, Canada. Its bones come from the Dinosaur Park Formation, where it shared the land with the tyrannosaur Gorgosaurus, the armored Edmontonia and the small hunters Troodon and Dromaeosaurus.
How it was found
Sternberg named Caenagnathus in 1940, from a lower jaw. Other bones found later have been added, and some from younger rocks in South Dakota have also been placed in it.
Field gallery
More views of Caenagnathus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 2
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Caenagnathus.
The evidence
The science behind Caenagnathus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The type lower jaw is long, shallow and toothless, with its left and right halves fused at the front.
- The first and second hand claws provisionally assigned to Caenagnathus curve more than their counterparts in Chirostenotes. Pelvic and foot bones have also been provisionally assigned to it.
- One study used microscopic growth marks to support different adult sizes for Caenagnathus, Chirostenotes and Citipes.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing neck, trunk and tail are compared with Anzu.
- The missing parts of the hands and feet are compared with Chirostenotes, although the claws assigned to Caenagnathus are more curved.
Still unknown
- The shape of its upper skull, including whether it had a crest, and its feather colors and patterns.
- Exactly what it ate.
- Which isolated body bones belong to Caenagnathus, and how its body changed as it grew.
Discovery timeline
- 1940Named itSternberg
- 2014Family treeLamanna et al.
- 2015New findFunston et al.
- 2020Full descriptionFunston
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Caenagnathus
Named it
Named Caenagnathus from a toothless lower jaw, originally interpreted as a bird's.
A toothless bird from the Cretaceous of Alberta. Journal of Paleontology 14: 81-85
No link available
Family tree
Described Anzu from overlapping skeletons, revealing the body plan of a large caenagnathid.
A New Large-Bodied Oviraptorosaurian Theropod Dinosaur from the Latest Cretaceous of Western North America. PLoS ONE 9: e92022
Read the paper : A New Large-Bodied Oviraptorosaurian Theropod Dinosaur from the Latest Cretaceous of Western North America (opens in a new tab)New find
Provisionally assigned limb bones, hand claws and a tail vertebra to Caenagnathus.
New material of the large-bodied caenagnathid Caenagnathus collinsi from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada. Cretaceous Research 54: 179-187
Read the paper : New material of the large-bodied caenagnathid Caenagnathus collinsi from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada (opens in a new tab)Full description
Used anatomy and microscopic growth marks to support distinct adult sizes for Caenagnathus, Chirostenotes and Citipes, while questioning some isolated-bone assignments.
Caenagnathids of the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada: anatomy, osteohistology, taxonomy, and evolution. Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology 8: 105-153
Read the paper : Caenagnathids of the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada: anatomy, osteohistology, taxonomy, and evolution (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Caenagnathidae
Sources: Wikidata