Entire Juvenile Dinosaur, Possibly Troodon Or Oviraptorid Sp.

[-Andy-]

First up, this is not mine. It belongs to a collector in China who has an astonishing variety of fossils. He recently sent me pics of this fossil skeleton of his which has left him stumped.

Unfortunately he's unable to provide much info to me, other than "It is from China", "It is much smaller than a person", and "It has been suggested by other Chinese paleontologist that it may be a young troodon or oviraptorid". However, he believes it is not conclusive, and this might instead be a reptile rather than a dinosaur.

Apologies for small pics.

[Arion]

I'm inclined to think it might be a reptile; a bit more preparation would be helpful in this case. None of the elements are immediately recognizable as oviraptorid or troodont to me. If the V-shaped element is the mandible, it is very long for an oviraptorid (though some taxa like Ganzhousaurus have longer mandibles) and also appears to have very small mandibular fenestrae, which is inconsistent with the majority of non-caenagnathid mandibles. Limb proportions also look a little off too, more consistent with a quadrupedal animal. My guess would be a lizard of sorts, but a bit more prep work would be helpful here.