Nevadadromeus the Nevada Runner Dinosaur coloring page

This is my free coloring pages blog. 

Today's new drawing is of a newly discovered and named dinosaur from Nevada, USA.

Nevadadromeus the Nevada Runner Dinosaur

Nevadadromeus was a small herbivorous dinosaur.  It was about the size of a turkey.  But it was around 5 ft. 11 in. long.  That is 1.8 meters.  It was a fast runner so it got the Genus name Nevadadromeus or Nevada runner.  It was found in Nevada.  Its species name honors a paleontologist who was at Montana State University, Jim Schmitt.  He found dinosaurs at Nevada's Valley of Fire. The full scientific name is:  Nevadadromeus schmittii.  

Nevadadromeus was a small dinosaur that has been called the sheep of the Cretaceous Period.  It was certainly a prey species of other dinosaurs.  The carnivorous dinosaurs would have eaten them, although it would have only been a snack for some of the larger carnivores.  It clearly evolved the fast-running traits so it had a chance at getting away from the predators. 

You may have noticed the beak.  It DID have a beak but it had teeth in its jaws for chewing plants in it. 

Nevadadromeus lived around 100 million years ago.  If that makes you wonder about the grass in the drawing then let me explain.   Phytoliths are silica structures in plants.  They fossilized very well.  Scientists have evaluated coprolites from the huge Titanosaur dinosaurs from as far back as 100.5 million years ago.  That would be the early Cretaceous.  They found grass phytoliths!  So although grass really blossomed after the dinosaurs.  It DID live with the dinosaurs.  Other coprolites from Hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinos) have shown evidence of 5 different species of grass in the form of grass pollen.  So grass had evolved enough to exist in multiple species.  

So since Nevadadromeus was so small and low to the ground, it probably DID eat grass, among other things like ferns.  

NOTE:  This drawing, in printable form, can be found by clicking on the "Paleontology" button.  Then scroll down to the bottom of the Mesozoic Era section of the list.