Fun Paronychodon Facts For Kids

The term 'Paronychodon' means 'beside claw tooth' and is considered as a tooth taxon. The species of Paronychodon are parallel to Richardoestesia belonging to the dromaeosaurid family of feathered theropods.

The genus is considered doubtful due to the nature of the fossils which only include teeth but no other remains and are assigned under form taxon. A Paronychodon fossil indicates that the teeth of Paronychodon were small, lacked serrations, and recurved with a D-shaped cross-section and beautiful enamel.

They were 0.39 in (1 cm) long. A serrated specimen of the type represents deviant dromaeosaurid teeth because teeth without serrations would represent a different taxon or taxa.

Troodontids or Troodon have sharp teeth with distinctive posterior denticles that were square-shaped, uniform, minute, along with the tooth, bulbous at the base with a circular cross-section. Well-developed, elongated ridges were present on both sides of the tooth.

Some ridges were not as long as the tooth itself but were actually wider. Ridges on the flat surface were more developed than those on the convex surface.

At the basal cross section, dromaeosaurid teeth shape is somewhat oval. Paronychodon is synonymous with several taxa.

In research undertaken by Sunny Hwang, he found a resemblance in the tooth enamel with another troodontid, the Byronosaurus. The occurrence and geographical distribution of Troodon teeth has been limited and they are not found in the Milk River Formation.

Check out our other articles for more interesting dinosaurs facts about the Chilantaisaurus and the Xenotarsosaurus.

Paronychodon Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Paronychodon'?

The Paronychodon can be pronounced as 'pa-rony-cho-don'.

What type of dinosaur was a Paronychodon?

The Paronychodon was a theropod dinosaur. They are considered to be a coelurid, resembling the modern-day bird, particularly an ostrich. This dinosaur is also considered to be a archaeopterygid and a troodontid.

In which geological period did the Paronychodon roam the earth?

Paronychodon dinosaurs roamed the earth from the Kimmeridgian age to the late Cretaceous, in the area that is now known by the name Montana, the United States.

Two type species have been discovered under this, the Paronychodon lacustris from the Judith River Formation of Montana that existed during the Campanian stage around 75 million years ago and the Paronychodon caperatus, that lived in the Hell Creek Formation of North and South Dakota and the Lance Formation of Wyoming.

This type species lived in the Maastrichtian age, about 66 million years ago.

When did the Paronychodon become extinct?

Paronychodon lacustris became extinct in the Campanian stage dating 75 million years ago and Paronychodon caperatus became extinct in the latest Maastrichtian age, dated 66 million years ago.

Where did a Paronychodon live?

These theropods are ground-dwelling carnivores and preferred a terrestrial habitat. They were found in the grasslands during the Cretaceous period in Alberta, Canada as well as Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and the Lance Formation of Wyoming.

What was a Paronychodon's habitat?

Paronychodon is a dominant terrestrial carnivore that existed in the late Cretaceous period. They inhabited riparian forests consisting of lush trees and vegetation that were prone to periodic flooding.

They also lived in swamp forests, the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of southern Alberta, rocky mountain regions, faunas of the Campanian Belly River Group, the Judith River Formation of Montana, Lance and Hell Creek Formation. These dinosaurs could also be found alongside rivers and lakes in search of fishes and other small invertebrates to feed on.

Who did a Paronychodon live with?

These dinosaurs lived an amiable and cursorial lifestyle meaning that these reptiles created social groups, forming societies. They formed a herd of 10 or more individuals of different taxa and traveled together in search of food sources, nesting sites, and mates.

How long did a Paronychodon live?

We do not know the exact lifespan of these dinosaurs. However, after a lot of research and observations, we know that the Paronychodon lived around 70-66 million years ago.

How did they reproduce?

These dinosaurs were oviparous, meaning they were an egg-laying species. They reproduced by the coupling of the males and females.

For terrestrial animals of the present day, a common strategy for preserving sperm is internal fertilization. It has been assumed by paleontologists that this also is the case for these dinosaurs that existed millions of years ago.

They seem to have laid a large number of eggs in a season. Despite the parental care, the survival rate of babies into adulthood was very low.

Their reproduction technique can be understood from the study of the nest, nest colonies, and embryos that are dated a few decades ago. From the study of these fossils, it was found that the eggs of this theropod hatched at different phases of development depending on the species type.

Paronychodon Fun Facts

What did a Paronychodon look like?

Paronychodon is considered synonymous with Ornithomimosaurs or ostrich dinosaurs, commonly called bird mimic lizards. The skulls are small with long, slim necks and large eyes.

How many bones did a Paronychodon have?

In general, small theropods have approximately 200 bones, potentially more in larger species. Paleontologists have found scattered, broken, detached, bones like vertebrae, femurs, and the skull. They have found a long, sharp curving tooth, three to five functional fingers, pelvic bones, a solid upper arm bone (humerus), radius, and ulna just like human beings.

How did they communicate?

There is no evidence of their interaction and communication with other fellow dinosaurs. We cannot determine how they communicated through research or their fossil remains currently.

How big was a Paronychodon?

According to the study of their fossil, it was found that they have 8 ft (2.4 m) forelimbs and 10 in (25 cm) long claws. They are 10 times bigger than Ornithopods.

How fast could a Paronychodon move?

Paronychodon with their long, muscular ostrich-like legs could move at a speed of 40-50 mph (64-80 kph).

How much did a Paronychodon weigh?

This genus is synonymous with Richardoestesia, a possible dromaeosaurid that weighed approximately 19841.6 lb (9000 kg).

What were the male and female names of the species?

There has been no evidence found of distinct names for the male and female Paronychodon. It has been very difficult for paleontologists to under the sex of the species from their fossils.

What would you call a baby Paronychodon?

There is no specific name given to a baby Paronychodon.

What did they eat?

Paronychodons are known by their theropod teeth. Some also have serrated teeth. They were carnivores and dined on smaller invertebrates, insects like lace bug, small fishes like lumpfish and triggerfish, and other small marine animals. On the basis of their raw, pointed teeth, Baszio concluded that Richardoestesia isosceles was a fish eater.

How aggressive were they?

Theropod dinosaurs were very hostile and always engaged in aggressive confrontations. When they were hungry, they preyed on other small invertebrates, hunted them down, and even fed on the dead remains of their prey.

Did you know...

It is a myth that all dinosaur eggs are huge. The biggest egg found today is the size of a melon.

Julia Sankey found a resemblance between Richardoestesia isosceles and the elongated 'Type A' teeth of Paronychodon to which its holotype belongs.

Currie found dromaeosaurid and the species level taxa, Dromaeosaurus albertensis to be taxonomically equivalent to each other.

Many paleontologists believed that Troodon dinosaurs were omnivores because the shape of the teeth match with herbivores. Later on, Charles Mortram Sternberg rejected the possibility of Troodon being omnivores as their teeth have a strong resemblance to other carnivorous dinosaur species.Currie argued that Troodon teeth are very exclusive and have variations along the jaws.

Paronychodon species are sometimes considered parallel to the Eurasian Euronychodon tooth genus.

How were Paronychodon's fossils discovered?

The specimen, Lacustris was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1876 and Paronychodon caperatus was named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1889. Paronychodon teeth fossils have been recovered from many places including the Una formation of Spain.

Sankey named the taxon and reported on the material from the Aguja formation. Philip J. Currie studied the malformation in the teeth and proposed a reason for this. He believed it was because the tooth had been attached for too long to the inner wall of the tooth socket.

The larger sample of theropod teeth was found in the Judith River Formation in southern Alberta. Paleontologists such as Fiorillo and Gangloff, in 2000, discovered abundant Troodon teeth in Alaska.

What does the name 'Paronychodon' mean?

The name 'Paronychodon' means 'beside claw tooth'. According to Currie, the flat surface alongside the tooth with elongated ridges on it was the defining feature of the Paronychodon. These simply depicted theropod tooth.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other creatures from our bearded dragon fact or water dragon facts for kids pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Paronychodon coloring pages.

Main image by PaleoNeolitic

Second image by Nobu Tamura

*We've been unable to source an image of Paronychodon and have used an image of Nanshiungosaurus instead. If you are able to provide us with a royalty-free image of Paronychodon, we would be happy to credit you. Please contact us at hello@kidadl.com.