A New Troodontid from Morrison Formation

[Troodon]

Many of us collect material from the Morrison Formation especially teeth and claws.  Not much is published to help us identify these items but this new paper gives us some insight into a new Troodontid that includes teeth and claws,  Hesperornithoides miessleri 

 

 

 

https://peerj.com/articles/7247/

 

 

The serrations on the mesial carinae of maxillary teeth are smaller than the distal serrations as in basal dromaeosaurids. Mesial serrations are restricted to the apical third of the crown and appear absent in some teeth. Serrations are small (5.5 per mm distally) 

 

[Troodon]

From Nat Geo

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/07/new-dinosaur-species-velociraptor-cousin-lori-may-upend-flight-evolution-theories/

 

Smithsonian 

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/discovery-raptor-dinosaur-adds-new-wrinkle-origin-birds-180972588/

 

[TyBoy]

Wow that foot claw is very odd and different than most Digit II claws 

[DD1991]

This is the specimen nicknamed "Lori" and mentioned in the literature for over a decade. Fragmentary maniraptoran material has been reported from the Morrison before, including the holotypes of Palaeopteryx and Koparion, but Hesperornithoides is the first Morrison paravian based on complete material. Some surprising aspects of the Hesperornithoides cladistic analysis include recovering Dakotaraptor as a relative of Unenlagia, placing Ningyuansaurus inside Halszkaraptorinae, and recovering Unenlagiinae as sister to Dromaeosauridae and Troodontidae.

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

That's a really interesting discovery  Thanks for sharing the report!