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sharp-clawed runner
Hesperornithoides
Say it like this: “HESS-per-OR-nee-THOY-deez”
Hesperornithoides miessleri
Hesperornithoides ate meat and walked on two legs. It lived in the Late Jurassic. Bones have been found in the United States.
- When
- Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian · Tithonian) · roughly 154.8 to 143.1 million years ago
- Named in
- 2019 · Hartman, S.; Mortimer, M.; Wahl, W. R.; Lomax, D. R.; Lippincott, J.; Lovelace, D. M.
- Hip height
- 0.3 m · 1 ft
- Length
- 0.9–1 m · 3–3 ft
- Weight
- 3 kg · 7 lb
- Found in
- the United States · Morrison
- Food and walking
- Carnivore · Two legs
- Kind
- sharp-clawed runner · Theropod
- Family branch
- Troodontidae
The story in short
The genus Hesperornithoides dates to 2019, the year S. Hartman and colleagues described it. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.
It lived in the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian · Tithonian), roughly 154.8 to 143.1 million years ago. Finds come from the United States, including the Morrison Formation. It was a carnivore and walked on two legs.
Published estimates put Hesperornithoides at a length near 0.9–1 m, hips about 0.3 m high, and a body mass around 3 kg.
On the family tree it sits in Troodontidae, among the theropod dinosaurs.