Science News
Skull of a dromaeosaurid dinosaur Shri devi
PUBLICATION — Czepiński, Ł. 2023. Skull of a dromaeosaurid dinosaur Shri devi from the Upper Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert suggests convergence to the North American forms. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 68 (2), 227-243. doi:10.4202/app.01065.2023
Figure: skull and left foot of a dromaeosaurid from Khulsan, Baruungoyot strata, Mongolia (drawing: Jakub Zalewski).
The material of a carnivorous dinosaur found in the 1970s by a Polish-Mongolian paleontological expedition in the Gobi Desert is newly interpreted as belonging to the Shri devi species, closely related to the famous Velociraptor. The specimen includes a skull that was previously unknown in this species. Unlike other velociraptorines from Mongolia, Shri devi had a relatively short snout, with the proportions resembling the dromaeosaurids from North America. It is possible that the convergence in the skull anatomy of these animals may be due to adaptation to the desert-like environmental conditions.