Open Paleo

Caenagnathidae

Sternberg, 1940 Type genus Caenagnathus

Its genera lived 113.2–66.0 million years ago Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous stages

Caenagnathidae is a family of beaked, feathered oviraptorosaurs known from the Cretaceous of North America and Asia. Its members range enormously in size, from the turkey-sized Caenagnathasia to the giant Beibeilong and Gigantoraptor, which reached roughly 8 meters in length. Like other oviraptorosaurs they had long necks and short tails, but they were more lightly built than their oviraptorid relatives, with slender arms and long, gracile legs. Their toothless lower jaws were relatively long and shallow, hollow and connected to the air-sac system, and lined internally with complex ridges, tooth-like processes, and shelf-like structures. This variation in body size and beak shape suggests that caenagnathids adapted to a range of ecological niches, and the group persisted until the very end of the Cretaceous, vanishing with the other non-avian dinosaurs.

Diagnosis

  1. Fully fused, edentulous mandibular symphysis with paired lingual ridges
  2. Deep dentary bearing a prominent lateral fossa and pneumatic foramen
  3. Elongate, gracile, cursorial hindlimb with a fused tarsometatarsus in some genera
  4. Preacetabular process of the ilium expanded ventrally

Genera placed directly in Caenagnathidae

  • Anomalipes Yu et al., 2018 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)China
  • Anzu Lamanna et al., 2014 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)United States
  • Apatoraptor Funston & Currie, 2016 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)Canada
  • Beibeilong Pu et al., 2017 Cenomanian–Turonian (100.5–89.8 Ma)China
  • Caenagnathasia Currie et al., 1993 Turonian (93.9–89.8 Ma)Uzbekistan
  • Caenagnathus Sternberg, 1940 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Canada
  • Chirostenotes Gilmore, 1924 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Canada
  • Citipes Funston, 2020 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Canada
  • Elmisaurus Osmólska, 1981 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)Mongolia
  • Eoneophron Atkins-Weltman et al., 2024 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)United States
  • Epichirostenotes Sullivan et al., 2011 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Canada
  • Gigantoraptor Xu et al., 2007 Coniacian–Maastrichtian (89.8–66.0 Ma)Chinaunder dispute
  • Hagryphus Zanno & Sampson, 2005 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)United States
  • Infernogallus Funston et al., 2026 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)United States
  • Leptorhynchos Longrich et al., 2013 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)United States
  • Microvenator Ostrom, 1970 Albian–Cenomanian (113.2–93.9 Ma)United States
  • Nomingia Disputed Barsbold et al., 2000 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)Mongolia
  • Ojoraptorsaurus Disputed Sullivan et al., 2011 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)United States

References

  1. Sternberg, R. M. (1940). A toothless bird from the Cretaceous of Alberta. Journal of Paleontology 14(1): 81-85. sternberg1940a
  2. Maryańska, T.; Osmólska, H.; Wolsan, M. (2002). Avialan status for Oviraptorosauria. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 47(1): 97-116.

    Defined Caenagnathidae as the most inclusive clade containing Caenagnathus collinsi but not Oviraptor philoceratops.

    maryańska2002a
  3. Funston, G. (2020). Caenagnathids of the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada: anatomy, osteohistology, taxonomy, and evolution. Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology 8: 105-153. University of Alberta Libraries. doi:10.18435/vamp29362

    Revised the caenagnathid species of the Dinosaur Park Formation, with a phylogenetic analysis.

    funston2020b