Joan Wiffen's theropod

Joan Wiffen's theropod
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda

Joan Wiffen's theropod is an unidentified theropod dinosaur that was found by Joan Wiffen in Cretaceous rocks of New Zealand in the Mangahouanga Stream. Only a tail vertebra was found, and this was thought to be from a type of Allosaur, because the tail vertebra resembled it most.

Description

Based on the vertebra, Joan Wiffen's theropod was thought to be approximately four to five meters in length (maximum length of 15 feet) long, and like most theropods it would have been bipedal and carnivorous. Because of the few fossils, it is hard to determine what species of dinosaur is, although Wiffen determined that it probably came from a megalosaurid, at the time a poorly defined group of unspecialized large carnivorous dinosaurs. It could not be given an official binomial name until more about its classification is known.

Paleoecology

In the time of Joan Wiffen's theropod, the continent Tasmantis had split off from Gondwana, meaning that this theropod dinosaur must have been unique to NZ, which scientists believe was much closer to the South Pole. It was mostly jungle. The New Zealand theropod existed with Joan Wiffen's sauropod and an unidentified type of pterosaur. Apart from this, not much is known.

Diet

Like most theropods, the New Zealand variation would have been carnivorous, and would have most likely hunted sauropods and ornithopods.

In Popular Culture

Joan Wiffen's theropod has been mentioned in the documentary The Lost Dinosaurs of New Zealand, where it was said that it was "Possibly a megalosaur".

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, October 12, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.