ADVERTISEMENTIt’s just 64cm tall – but this newly discovered dinosaur is causing big excitement at the Natural History Museum.
The Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae was a nimble, plant-eating dinosaur that roamed western North America around 150 million years ago, during the late Jurassic period.
Despite living among prehistoric heavyweights like Stegosaurus and Diplodocus, this little runner likely darted between their feet. Its fossil was initially misidentified as a “nanosaurus” – a murky name dating back to the 1870s – until closer analysis revealed it as an entirely new species.
Named for its puzzling classification history (“Enigma”) and its long-legged agility (“cursor”), the Enigmacursor helps bridge a key evolutionary gap between early ornithischians and their larger, weirder relatives like Stegosaurus and Triceratops.
A skeleton of the Enigmacursor is now on display at the Natural History Museum, with full research published in Royal Society Open Science.
Take a closer look this fascinating dinosaur skeleton in the video player above.
