Nqwebasaurus

*Nqwebasaurus thwazi*

***Nqwebasaurus*** (pronounced: nnkweb-ah-sawr-us. In fact, "nq" is a nasal postalveolar click [ŋǃ]) is the name given to a genus of dinosaur from the Tithonian to Valanginian (Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous). It was a basal coelurosaur related to *Ornitholestes*. Its fossils were found in South Africa in the Kirkwood Formation, which is called Nqweba in the native language of the Xhosa. Nqwebasaurus is the earliest known coelurosaur from Gondwana.

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"). 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.

## JPInstitute.com Description

This little African meat-eater is very important because it provides many clues about African dinosaurs in the Cretaceous period. Nqwebasaurus lived at the very beginning of the Cretaceous Period, when Africa, South America, Australia, and Antarctica were still one giant island continent called Gondwana. This is the oldest known dinosaur from the family that includes T. rex to be found on one of the continents that once made up Gondwana. This little hunter, who probably ate bugs and lizards, was the great grandfather of many larger predators.

Nqwebasaurus predates the next oldest Gondwanan inhabitant of the family coelurosauria by 50 million years. It provides the first evidence of this family on Gondwana at the beginning of the Cretaceous and supports the theory that this family was spreading throughout Pangaea prior to the breakup of that super-continent. Another interesting fact about this dinosaur is that it was found with apparent gastroliths in its stomach. Gastroliths in theropods are extremely rare - it has even been suggested that these may have been ingested while the dinosaur was eating the carcass of an herbivore that had the stones in its gut.

## Dinosaur Field Guide Description

Nqwebasaurus ("'Nqweba lizard") is one of the smallest of all dinosaurs, except for birds. It is also one of the most recently discovered. Two South African paleontologists, William De Klerk and Callum Ross, discovered the skeleton of this dinosaur in 1996. It was not complete, but the fossil clearly showed a small theropod (or meat-eating dinosaur), about 31 inches (80 cm) long. Like many theropods, it had a three-fingered hand. Its hind legs were long and built for running fast. When these paleontologists teamed up with American scientists to describe this dinosaur in 2000, they gave it the name Nqwebasaurus (Nqweba is the name of the Kirkwood region of South Africa- where this dinosaur was found--in the Xhosa language). Nqwebasaurus is about the size of a chicken, as are Compsognathus and Sinosauropteryx. But unlike these other dinosaurs, its arms are relatively big, It probably could grab food with them. Because the teeth of Nawebasaurus have not been found, we don't know if it ate mostly meat (such as small lizards or mammals), insects, or something else.

### Fun Facts

The first (and so far only) specimen of Nqwebasaurus was nick-named "Kirky" for the Kirkwood Formation of rock in which it was found.

### Trivia

"Kirky" was found with gizzard stones in its belly. Although it is well known that plant-eaters used "gtomach stones" to help them grind up food, some meat-eating dinosaurs, such as the spinosaur Baryonyx, and crocodiles also used them.

## Links

http://web.archive.org/web/20040214172347fw\_/http://www.jpinstitute.com/dinopedia/dinocards/dc\_nqweb.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20080706035136/http://kids.yahoo.com/dinosaurs/330--Nqwebasaurus