Nqwebasaurus

Nqwebasaurus  (pronounced: nnkweb-ah-sawr-us; in fact, "nq" is a nasal postalveolar   click  [ŋǃ]) is the name given to a genus of   dinosaur  sometime between the   Tithonian  to Valanginian  (Late   Jurassic  to Early <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">  Cretaceous<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">). It was the basalmost <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">  ornithomimosaur<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">. Its fossils were found in <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">  South Africa<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">in the <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">  Kirkwood Formation<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">, which is called Nqweba in the native language of the <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">  Xhosa<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">. It was nicknamed "Kirky" after this formation before recei ving its scientific name. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1" style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[1] <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">  Nqwebasaurus<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">  <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">is the earliest known coelurosaur from Gondwana<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">, pre-dating other known North African taxa by 50 million years. It is also the first coelurosaur to be discovered and named from <span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">  Africa<span style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:22.399999618530273px;">.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.399999618530273px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The type species, Nqwebasaurus thwazi, was described by de Klerk, Forster, Sampson, Chinsamy and Ross in 2000. According to the authors, the new genus is one of the "most complete and best preserved Cretaceous theropods described thus far from Africa." The well-preserved specimen had a long, three-fingered hand which included a partially opposable thumb (a "killer claw")<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]  The fossil also contained gastroliths in its stomach. The specimen appeared to be a late juvenile about 30 cm (1 ft) high and around 90 cm (3 ft) long, though the length of its tail is not known.

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