Nqwebasaurus
Nqwebasaurus thwazi
Pronounced: nick - Web - uh - Sore - us
Diet: Carnivore (meat-eater)
Name Means: "Nqweba Lizard"
Length: 2.5 feet (80 cm)
Height: 15 inches (38 cm)
Weight: unknown
Time: Early Cretaceous - 141 MYA
Fossil
remains
for this
Dinosaur
have
been
found in
Africa
This little African meat-eater is very important because it
provides many clues about African dinosaurs in the Cretaceous
period. Nqwebasaurus lived at the very beginning of the
Cretaceous Period, when Africa, South America, Australia, and
Antarctica were still one giant island continent called
Gondwana. This is the oldest known dinosaur from the family that
includes T. rex to be found on one of the continents that once
made up Gondwana. This little hunter, who probably ate bugs and
lizards, was the great grandfather of many larger predators.
Nqwebasaurus predates the next oldest Gondwanan inhabitant of the family coelurosauria by 50 million years. It provides the first evidence of this family on Gondwana at the beginning of the Cretaceous and supports the theory that this family was spreading throughout Pangaea prior to the breakup of that super-continent. Another interesting fact about this dinosaur is that it was found with apparent gastroliths in its stomach. Gastroliths in theropods are extremely rare - it has even been suggested that these may have been ingested while the dinosaur was eating the carcass of an herbivore that had the stones in its gut. |
