Nomingia

from the Nomingiin Gobi

• Nomingiin · Mongolian · of Nomin (the Nomingiin Gobi region)
• -ia · Latin · place-name suffix

Nomingia is named after the Nomingiin Gobi, the part of the Gobi Desert in southwestern Mongolia where the fossil was found. The only named species, N. gobiensis, adds a reference to the Gobi itself. It is an oviraptorosaur, notable for a tail tip made of fused vertebrae that resembles a pygostyle, the structure that supports the tail feathers of modern birds.

Named by

Barsbold et al.

Year named

2000

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Maastrichtian

Found in

Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia

A small, feathered oviraptorosaur theropod. The etymology of the root "Nomingiin" is given from memory of the original description. I am less sure of the exact wording of the Mongolian root.