Outline: a typical theropod
Saurornitholestes
sore-OR-nith-oh-LES-teez
"lizard-bird thief"
- Lived
- 84 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Length
- about 1.8 m (6 ft)
- Group
- Theropods, Dromaeosauridae
- Found in
- Canada and United States
- Named by
- Sues 1978
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical theropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
75 million years ago
Field notes
About Saurornitholestes
What it was like
Saurornitholestes was a feathered hunter about 1.8 meters (6 feet) long, a relative of Velociraptor. It ran on two legs, had grasping hands, and held a sickle claw off the ground on each foot.
Its teeth have been found in large numbers, and one of its bite marks has even been found on a pterosaur bone.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous across western North America, from Alberta to Texas. Its fossils come from many formations, including the Dinosaur Park, Oldman and Judith River.
It shared these lands with the tyrannosaurs Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus, the dome-headed Stegoceras and smaller hunters such as Troodon and Dromaeosaurus.
How it was found
Sues named Saurornitholestes in 1978. About 124 finds are known, most of them teeth.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Dromaeosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: H.-D. Sues. 1978. A new small theropod dinosaur from the Judith River Formation (Campanian) of Alberta Canada. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 62:381-400