Kulindadromeus
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Kulindadromeus Temporal range: Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic, 169–144 Ma |
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| Reconstruction of Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus showing integument patterns preserved on the fossils. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Neornithischia |
| Genus: | †Kulindadromeus |
| Type species | |
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†Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus Godefroit et al., 2014 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Kulindapteryx ukureica |
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Kulindapteryx ukureica
Alifanov and Saveliev, 2014
Daurosaurus olovus
Alifanov and Saveliev, 2014
"Lepidocheirosaurus natatilis"
Alifanov and Saveliev, 2015
Kulindadromeus was a herbivorous dinosaur, a basal neornithischian from the Jurassic of Russia. Its feather-like integument is evidence for proto-feathers being basal to Dinosauria as a whole, rather than just to Coelurosauria, as previously suspected.
Like other early neornithischians, Kulindadromeus was a bipedal runner, approximately 1.5 meters in length. It had a short head, short forelimbs, long hindlimbs and a long tail.
The describers of Kulindadromeus established some distinguishing traits. The front ascending branch of the maxilla is much lower than the rear ascending branch. The fenestra maxillaris is larger than the antorbital fenestra, the usually more extensive skull opening in the snout side. The branch of the jugal towards the postorbital is notched. The postorbital has a rear branch that is vertically expanded. The rear blade of the ilium is slender in side view. The second, third and fourth metatarsals have deep grooves for the tendons of the extensor muscles.
Various specimens of Kulindadromeus show large parts of its integument. This includes imbricated rows of scales on top of its tail and also a covering of scales branching into feather-like structures, which until its discovery were thought to be exclusive to the Theropoda, of the saurischian line. The feather remains discovered are of three types, adding a level of complexity to the evolution of feathers in dinosaurs. The first type consists of hair-like filaments covering the trunk, neck and head. These are up to three centimetres long and resemble the stage 1 "dino-fuzz" already known from theropods like Sinosauropteryx. The second type is represented by groups of six or seven downwards-projecting filaments up to 1.5 centimetres long, originating from a base plate. These are present on the upper arm and thigh. They resemble the type 3 feathers of theropods. The base plates are ordered in a hexagonal pattern but do not touch each other. The third type is unique. It was found on the upper lower legs and consists of bundles of six or seven ribbon-like structures, up to two centimetres long. Each ribbon is constructed from about ten parallel filaments up to 0.1 millimetres wide.
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