Zanabazar
Named after Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar, the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu and supreme spiritual leader of Mongolian Buddhism in the 17th century, honoring the Mongolian heritage of the fossil's origin.
Late Cretaceous stages
Zanabazar is an extinct genus of troodontid theropod dinosaur from the Maastrichtian Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. The type species is Zanabazar junior, known from a single skull.
Diagnosis
- Lacking small depression on lateral wall of braincase just dorsal to trigeminal foramen
- Largest known troodontid specimen with midline skull length of ~272 mm
- More ovoid-shaped foramen magnum than Troodon formosus
- Posttemporal fenestra enclosed by equal proportion of exoccipital/opisthotic and squamosal
- Deeper paroccipital process than Troodon formosus with different position of posttemporal fossa
- Lack of osseous signature of ophthalmic branch of trigeminal nerve in laterosphenoid
Species
Zanabazar junior Norell et al., 2009
Type species
Originally named Saurornithoides junior by Rinchen Barsbold in 1974, as it was considered a distinct, generally smaller, and often assumed 'younger' or less robust form compared to Saurornithoides mongoliensis.
- Holotype
- IGM 100/1 , Paleontological Center, Mongolian Academy of Sciences
- Material
- Skull and partial mandible, six sacral and 11 caudal vertebrae, distal part of right hind limb
- Horizon
- Nemegt Formation, Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 72.2–66.0 million years ago
- Locality
- Bügiin Tsav, Ömnögovi, Mongolia
References
- Norell, M. A.; Makovicky, P. J.; Bever, G. S.; Balanoff, A. M.; Clark, J. M.; Barsbold, R.; Rowe, T. (2009). A Review of the Mongolian Cretaceous Dinosaur Saurornithoides (Troodontidae: Theropoda). American Museum Novitates 3654: 1-63. American Museum of Natural History (BioOne sponsored). doi:10.1206/648.1 norell2009a
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Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates, and the appearance features.
jones2026c