SHUVOSAURUS, A NEW THEROPOD

Among the rich vertebrate fauna collected from the Late Triassic (225 million years ago) Dockum Group of Texas is an unusual new theropod (c arnivorous, bipedal, lizard-hipped dinosaur) that manifests a suite of characters currently known only in ostrich dinosaurs (ornithomimosaur s). The skull shows typical ornithomimosaurian features, such as tooth less jaws and enormous eye sockets, and is filled with air sinuses in the nasal and tympanic regions. The short, heavy beak and strong palat e were designed as a powerful and efficient nutcracker, like those of modern seed-eating birds. There are at least 2 phylogenetic interpreta tions for this unexpected discovery. Either it is an independent Trias sic iteration of an ornithomimosaurian skull morphology; or, if we acc ept its characters at face value, it is the oldest member of the ornit homimosaurs and increases the time range of this group by as much as 7 5 million years.