Outline: a typical theropod
Nqwebasaurus
"Nqweba lizard"
- Lived
- 143 to 133 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Length
- about 1 m (3 ft)
- Group
- Theropods
- Found in
- South Africa
- Named by
- de Klerk et al. 2000
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical theropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
140 million years ago
Field notes
About Nqwebasaurus
What it was like
Nqwebasaurus was a small, early ostrich-like dinosaur, about 1 meter (3 feet) long. It had long legs and a long hand with a large claw. Small stones found in its belly may have helped it grind plant food.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now South Africa. Its bones come from the Kirkwood Formation, where the stegosaur Paranthodon also lived.
How it was found
De Klerk and colleagues named it in 2000.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Ornithomimosauria
Sources: WikidataNamed in: W. J. de Klerk, C. A. Forster, and S. D. Sampson, A. Chinsamy, C. F. Ross. 2000. A new coelurosaurian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20(2):324-332