Overview
- Researchers have formally named Infernogallus jamesi, a turkey‑sized caenagnathid from the Hell Creek Formation, and placed its nearly complete skull and partial skeleton on display at the Royal Ontario Museum.
- High‑resolution CT scans and 3D reconstruction reveal down‑arched palatal bones and a front‑to‑back muscle orientation that would let the lower jaw slide backward and forward rather than only up and down.
- The team interprets that jaw mechanics as an adaptation for mashing fleshy fruit to separate pulp from seeds, a feeding style previously known in some modern parrots and mammals.
- That dietary inference rests on skull anatomy and reconstructed mechanics rather than preserved stomach contents, so it is a strong functional case but an indirect line of evidence.
- As a toothless, feathered member of the oviraptorosaur group that evolved from meat‑eating ancestors, Infernogallus illustrates how small theropods diversified their diets and may have helped spread early angiosperm seeds while prompting new museum and research study opportunities.