Tochisaurus nemegtensis
"Ostrich lizard"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Tochisaurus 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
- Length
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (100–66 Mya)
- Place
- Asia · Mongolia
- Food
- Carnivore
- Clade
- Troodontidae Dinosauria Saurischia Theropoda Coelurosauria Small, brainy, feathered theropods.
Tochisaurus (meaning “Ostrich lizard”) is a genus of small troodontid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of Mongolia. The type (and only named) species is Tochisaurus nemegtensis.
In 1948, a Soviet-Mongolian expedition found the remains of a small theropod in the Gobi Desert near Nemegt. In 1987 the find was reported by Sergei Kurzanov and later that year discussed by Halszka Osmólska who suggested it could represent a specimen of the troodontid Borogovia.
What we know
- Named by Kurzanov and Osmólska, 1991.
- Fossils found in Asia and Mongolia.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Tochisaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.