Alectrosaurus was a small tyrannosauroidean theropod dinosaur which lived in Mongolia during the middle of the Cretaceous Period around 95 million years ago. It is known from partial remains belonging to several individuals, but their incompleteness makes it difficult to determine its full size. Most estimates place it at 15-20 feet long. Alectrosaurus is an intriguing species due to its elongated limber hind legs, suggesting that it was a fleet-footed pursuit predator.

While it’s clear that Alectrosaurus was a tyrannosaur of some sort, scientists are still uncertain as to where exactly it fits onto the tyrannosaurian tree. One analysis made in 2013 suggested that Alectrosaurus was closely related to Dryptosaurus and to the long-snouted Asian tyrannosaur Xiongguanlong. Did Alectrosaurus have three fingers on its hands like the primitive tyrannosauroideans Proceratosaurus and Eotyrannus did, or did it have the more commonly-recognized two fingers? Did Alectrosaurus have feathers like the primitive tyrannosaurs Dilong and Yutyrannus, or was it covered in scales? At the moment, these questions cannot be answered with any degree of certainty.

Alectrosaurus shared its environment with the 30 foot long titanosaur sauropod Sonidosaurus, the massive 25-30 foot long oviraptorosaur Gigantoraptor, the large dromaeosaur Achillobator (which might have grown to be the same size as Utahraptor), the ornithomimids Garudimimus and Archaeornithomimus, several species of therizinosaurs, the primitive hadrosaurs Bactrosaurus and Gilmoreosaurus, and the armored ankylosaur Talarurus.

The drawing below was made with black ballpoint pen, No. 2 pencil, No.3 pencil, and colored pencils on printer paper.

Alectrosaurus. © Jason R. Abdale (June 23, 2023).

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Categories: Paleontology, Uncategorized

Tags: Alectrosaurus, art, Asia, Cretaceous Period, dinosaur, Mesozoic, Middle Cretaceous, Mongolia, paleo-art, paleontology, Prehistoric, reptile, theropod, tyrannosauroid, Tyrannosauroidea, tyrannosauroidean