16 Facts About Oviraptor

The first remains were collected from the Djadokhta Formation of Mongolia in 1923 during a paleontological expedition led by Roy Chapman Andrews, and in the following year the genus and type species Oviraptor philoceratops were named by Henry Fairfield Osborn.

When first described, Oviraptor was interpreted as an egg-thief, egg-eating dinosaur given the close association of the holotype with a dinosaur nest.

The particular genus Oviraptor was erected with the type species O philoceratops based on the holotype AMNH 6517, a partial individual lacking the back of the skeleton but including a badly crushed skull, partial cervical and dorsal vertebrae, pectoral elements including the furcula with the left arm and partial hands, the left ilium and some ribs.

However, Osborn suggested that the name Oviraptor could reflect an incorrect perception of this dinosaur.

Furthermore, Osborn found Oviraptor to be similar to the unrelated—at the time considered related—fast-running ornithomimids based on the toothless jaws, and assigned Oviraptor to the Ornithomimidae.

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In 1976, the Mongolian paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold noted some inconsistencies regarding the taxonomic placement of Oviraptor and concluded that this taxon was quite distinct from ornithomimids based on anatomical traits.

Skull of Oviraptor was deep and shortened with large fenestrae compared to other dinosaurs, and measures about 17.

Oviraptor had toothless jaws that ended in a robust, parrot-like rhamphotheca.

Oviraptor had a relatively elongated arm composed of the humerus, radius, ulna, and manus.

The hand of Oviraptor had three skinny and bird-like fingers with each finger ended in side to side flattened and recurved unguals.

Oviraptor was originally allied with the ornithomimids by Osborn due to its toothless beak.

When first described in 1924 by Osborn, Oviraptor was originally presumed to have been ovivarous—an organism that has an egg-based diet—life-style, based on the association of the holotype with a nest thought to belong to Protoceratops.

Oviraptor argued that the strength of the robust lower jaws and likely rhamphotheca was strong enough to break the shells of mollusks such as clams, which are found in the same geological formation as Oviraptor.

Oviraptor found no evidence indicating a forelimb specialized in aquatic locomotion, and the jaws, rather than preserve a crushing mechanism, preserve shearing surfaces.

Oviraptor is known from the Bayn Dzak locality of the Djadokhta Formation in Mongolia, a formation that dates back to the Late Cretaceous about 71 million to 75 million years ago.

The known remains of Oviraptor have been produced by the Bayn Dzak member, which has yielded the dinosaurs Bainoceratops, Pinacosaurus, Protoceratops, Saurornithoides, Velociraptor, and Halszkaraptor.