NEW YORK - It’s called the chicken from hell: a birdlike dinosaur some 7 feet tall that weighed around 500 pounds when it roamed western North America on its long, slender hind legs.
The beast got its nickname long ago at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, where a replica of its skeleton has been on display for a decade.
But the species has had no scientific name. Until now.
The creature was formally introduced to the scientific community Wednesday as scientists published a description and analysis of its anatomy and finally bestowed a name: Anzu wyliei.
The moniker comes from a mythological feathered demon plus the name of a Carnegie museum trustee’s grandson.
Anzu had a toothless beak and a crest on its skull like a rooster’s comb, combined with long arms and sharp claws up to about 4 inches long. It apparently also had feathers over much of its body.
The analysis, in the journal PLoS One, concludes that Anzu belongs to a group of dinosaurs that scientists knew little about because they had recovered only fragmentary remains from its members.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 03/20/2014