Sciurumimus

squirrel mimic

• sciurus · Latin (from Greek skiouros) · squirrel
• mimus · Latin (from Greek mimos) · mimic, imitator

The name means "squirrel mimic". It refers to the long, bushy tail of the fossil, which was covered in filamentous, feather-like structures and looked somewhat like a squirrel's tail. The only known species, S. albersdoerferi, honours Raimund Albersdörfer, who helped make the specimen available to science.

Named by

Rauhut et al.

Year named

2012

Period

Late Jurassic

Stage

Kimmeridgian

Found in

Painten, Bavaria, Germany (Torleite Formation)

A small megalosauroid theropod known from a single, very young (hatchling or juvenile) and exceptionally well-preserved skeleton that shows filamentous integumentary structures (proto-feathers). Because the specimen is so young, adult size and some features are uncertain.