Natovenator polydontus

In News 

Recently , Natovenator polydontus was seen in the news.

About Natovenator polydontus, 

• It is part of the dinosaur group called theropods – sharing traits including bipedalism – best known for large meat-eaters including Tyrannosaurus, Tarbosaurus, and Giganotosaurus. 
• It lived about 72 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period and was built like a diving bird with a streamlined body while possessing a goose-like elongated neck and a long flattened snout with a mouth bearing more than 100 small teeth. 
• Characteristics: It measured about 18 inches (45 cm) long, with a skull about 3 inches (7 cm) long. 
  • Its front limbs appeared somewhat flattened, perhaps as an adaptation for paddling and swimming. 
    • The streamlining of its body is shown by ribs that point toward the tail, as in diving birds, an arrangement that reduces drag in the water and allows efficient swimming.
• “Natovenator – which means ‘swimming thief’ – is an amazing little animal for several reasons. 
  • It is small and delicate. It looked more like a lizard or mammal skeleton than a dinosaur. 
  • It is very specialized for living in an environment not typical for an animal related to Velociraptor and its other relatives. 
• It was adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle in a freshwater ecosystem, perhaps floating on rivers and lakes, paddling with its front limbs, and using its flexible neck to catch fish and insects or diving underwater to capture its prey

• it was a cousin of the speedy little predator Velociraptor.
• A close relative of Natovenator named Halszkaraptor, described in 2017, lived a similar lifestyle at roughly the same time in the same region. 
  • Both had a very bird-like appearance and were closely related to the bird lineage.

• Its well-preserved remains – a skeleton about 70% complete – were unearthed in the Gobi Desert, which over the decades has been a treasure trove for dinosaur fossils.

Source:IE