Originally known only from a foot, with scarce remains found since, Elmisaurus rarus means “Rare Foot Sole Lizard.” Even today, Elmisaurus fossils are highly fragmentary, as are most Caenagnathid remains, and consist mostly of foot and hand bones. However, if the fossils of Nomingia gobiensis can actually be attributed to Elmisaurus, which they may be, we might have a bigger picture of the animal. Elmisaurus has been the subject of but one study so far, where 23 foot bones from various specimens were studied for signs of stress fracture, and none were found. This animal was probably lightly built and not using its feet for strenuous activities. Rather, like other oviraptorosaurs, it would have relied on a sharp beak and strong bite force, lending to either herbivory of tough plant material or omnivory of both plants and small creatures.
Found in Late Cretaceous Mongolia, Elmisaurus rarus would have lived in the arid canyons of the Nemegt Formation. This environment was not entirely desert like the older Barun Goyot and Djadochta Formations, but also filled with thickly wooded forests of tall conifer trees and shallow lakes. It would have shared this environment with other oviraptorosaurs like Rinchenia, Nemegtomaia, and Avimimus. It would have also lived alongside troodontids like Tochisaurus and would have had to look out for Tyrannosaurs like Bagaraatan and Tarbosaurus. Hadrosaurs like Barsboldia and Saurolophus, the pachycephalosaurs Homalocephale and Prenocephale, sauropods like Nemegtosaurus, and the crocodylomorph Paralligator also lived here, as well as turtles, frogs, and small mammals.
If Nomingia is actually Elmisaurus, then it would have also lived alongside ornithomimosaurs like Anserimimus, Gallimimus, and Deinocheirus, the dromaeosaur Adasaurus, the bird Brodavis, alvarezsaurs like Mononykus, troodontids like Zanabazar, and Therizinosaurus in the Bügiin Tsav locality of the Nemegt Formation.
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Elmisaurus — вимерлий рід динозаврів-тероподів з родини Caenagnathidae, відомий з формації Немегт (Монголія), що датується пізньою крейдою. Тварина описана лише за фрагментарними рештками.
Elmisaurus is a relatively unknown genus of oviraptor from the Ömnögovï province in Mongolia. It lived in the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous, about 70 million years ago, and is known from the fossils of its feet and hands. As such, its size is relatively unknown. Its diet and general appearance was probably similar to other caenagnathids.
