Overview
- The peer-reviewed study published Oct. 30–31 in Nature Communications formally names Infernogallus jamesi based on a near-complete Hell Creek skeleton plus isolated jaw and palate bones.
- Researchers documented three specific skull and jaw adaptations consistent with frugivory: muscles arranged for back-and-forth chewing, a mobile forward-sliding jaw joint, and ridges and grooves on the beak for mashing soft food.
- Infernogallus was a turkey-sized caenagnathid theropod about 1.5 meters long and roughly 11–12 kilograms, with a toothless, parrot-like beak and inferred feathers based on close relatives.
- The species appears to have processed food orally through chewing rather than relying on gastroliths (stomach stones), showing a different feeding strategy from many other plant-eating theropods.
- The discovery strengthens evidence that some dinosaurs interacted closely with Cretaceous flowering plants and could have aided seed dispersal, but authors say direct ecological proof beyond anatomy is still needed.