Outline: a typical theropod
Elopteryx
Type species Elopteryx nopcsai
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Alvarezsauridae
- Found in
- Romania
- Named by
- Andrews 1913
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
Field notes
About Elopteryx
What it was like
Elopteryx was a small theropod known from a few leg bones. Their features are hard to read, so scientists have linked it to many groups over the years, from birds to troodontids to alvarezsaurs.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Romania. Its world was an island with small dwarfed dinosaurs, including the plant eaters Zalmoxes and Telmatosaurus, the small sauropod Magyarosaurus and the armored Struthiosaurus.
How it was found
Andrews named Elopteryx in 1913. The type species is Elopteryx nopcsai. Some scientists think the later-named Balaur may be the same animal.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Alvarezsauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: C. W. Andrews. 1913. On some bird remains from the Upper Cretaceous of Transslyvania. Geological Magazine, new series, decade 5 10(5):193-196