Bradycneme

Bradycneme is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Maastrichtian-age Upper Cretaceous Sânpetru Formation of the Hațeg Basin, Transylvania, Romania. It is known only from a partial right lower leg (specimen BMNH A1588), which its original describers believed came from a giant owl.
History.
Harrison and Walker described two "bradycnemids" from Romania in 1975: "B. draculae" and "Heptasteornis andrewsi". These specimens had initially been assigned to the supposed pelecaniform bird "Elopteryx nopcsai". "Bradycneme" means "ponderous leg", from Ancient Greek ' (βραδύς) "slow, ponderous" + ' (κνήμη) "leg", as the holotype, BMNH A1588, a 37.8 millimetres wide distal tibiotarsus found by Maud Eleanora Seeley, would be very stout if the animal had been an owl, indicating a body height of two metres. The specific name "draculae" is derived from Romanian "", "the dragon" and refers to Dracula.
Starting with Pierce Brodkorb, the specimens were soon compared to small theropod dinosaurs. These three genera "Bradycneme", "Elopteryx" and "Heptasteornis" have been synonymized, split, and reassessed numerous times since then in part because of the fragmentary nature of the remains; there exist three proximal femora and three distal tibiotarsi, which may belong to one, two or three species. Usually, at least one of them is considered to be a troodontid.
In the most recent assessments, "Bradycneme" and "Heptasteornis" were found to be the same and most likely basal members of the Tetanurae in one study, but Darren Naish did not follow the synonymy and found "Heptasteornis" to be an alvarezsaurid, while classifying "Bradycneme" as an indeterminate maniraptoran. In a 2011 classification, Tom Holtz assigned "Bradycneme" to the Alvareszauridae along with "Heptasteornis".
References.
Bibliography.
Istorie
În media
Bradycneme a apărut în episodul final al Planetei dinozaur, unde este prezentat prinzând o șopârlă și mai târziu după evenimentul K-Pg mâncând o carcasă a unui sauropod numit Magyarosaurus . Cu toate acestea, Planeta Dinozaur , este descris ca un troodontid ceva mai mare și cu penaj fuzzy, în timp ce în viața reală, este un alvarezsaur și avea mai multe pene, inclusiv „aripi”.
Apare și în primele două jocuri Fossil Fighters, dar este absent din al treilea. Este singurul alvarezsaur care apare în joc. Deși este descris cu precizie cu un strat de pene, este descris inexact pronunțându-i încheieturile. Modelul său este ușor bazat pe vampiri, datorită numelui său.
Galerie