Sciurumimus albersdoerferi

Sciurumimus (“squirrel mimic,” named for its tail’s resemblance to that of the tree squirrel genus Sciurus) is an extinct genus of tetanuran theropod from the Late Jurassic Torleite Formation of Germany. It is known from a single juvenile specimen representing the type species, Sciurumimus albersdoerferi, which was found in a limestone quarry close to Painten in Lower Bavaria. The specimen was preserved with traces of feather-like filaments.

The Sciurumimus specimen was first announced in an informal presentation by Rauhut and Foth (2011), but not formally described and named until the following year by Rauhut et al. (2012). Although originally classified as a basal megalosauroid, later phylogenetic analyses dispute this placement. However, a recent analysis on immature coelurosaurs, including compsognathids, finds Sciurumimus back in Megalosauroidea.