Joan Wiffen's theropod
| Joan Wiffen's theropod Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
Joan Wiffen's theropod is an unidentified theropod dinosaur that was found by Joan Wiffen in Cretaceous rocks of New Zealand in the Mangahouanga Stream. Only a tail vertebra was found, and this was thought to be from a type of Allosaur, because the tail vertebra resembled it most.
Description
Based on the vertebra, Joan Wiffen's theropod was thought to be approximately four to five meters in length (maximum length of 15 feet) long, and like most theropods it would have been bipedal and carnivorous. Because of the few fossils, it is hard to determine what species of dinosaur is, although Wiffen determined that it probably came from a megalosaurid, at the time a poorly defined group of unspecialized large carnivorous dinosaurs. It could not be given an official binomial name until more about its classification is known. Due to the fact that megalosaurids became extinct at the end of the Jurassic it is considered unlikely that this species belongs to the clade.
Paleoecology
In the time of Joan Wiffen's theropod, the continent Tasmantis had split off from Gondwana, meaning that this theropod dinosaur must have been unique to NZ, which scientists believe was much closer to the South Pole. It was mostly jungle. The New Zealand theropod existed with Joan Wiffen's sauropod and an unidentified type of pterosaur. Apart from this, not much is known.
Diet
Like most theropods, the New Zealand variation would have been carnivorous, and would have most likely hunted sauropods and ornithopods.