Dromaeosaurid dinosaur — Saurornitholestes langstoni

Geologic period: Late Cretaceous — Campanian

Age: Late Campanian.

Feeding: Carnivorous.

Locomotion: Bipedal terrestrial locomotion.

Body plan: Small bipedal theropod with long hind limbs and a specialized enlarged claw on the second toe.

Evidence: Hind-limb anatomy is direct fossil evidence. Detailed prey-capture behavior remains reconstructed.

Why it matters: Saurornitholestes represents the close dinosaur relatives of birds and helps connect the classic dromaeosaur body plan with the evolution of feathered theropods.

Plain Language Identity: A small predatory dromaeosaurid theropod from Late Cretaceous North America.

What You Are Looking At: A cast of hind-limb anatomy from Saurornitholestes langstoni.

Defense Or Attack: Teeth, jaws and enlarged pedal claws were part of its predatory anatomy.

Ecosystem: Late Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems of western North America.

Preservation: Visitor object is a cast.

Open Questions: Do not reconstruct exact feather colors or social behavior for this specimen without direct evidence.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; comparative chronology retained; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Saurornitholestes langstoni

Evidence / representation: comparative_taxon_visual

comparative_taxon_visual

Cretaceous Worlds: Dinosaurs at Their Most Diverse.

Media license: CC BY 2.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0