NAME

Meaning - Ricardoestesia means “Richard Estes’ one” - it was named for Richard Estes(1932-1990), an American vertebrate paleontologist who wrote an important paper on theropod teeth in 1964.
Pronounced - ri-KARD-o-es-TEE-ze-a
Named By - Phillip Currie, Rigby, and Sloan
When Named - 1990
DIET

Carnivore (meat-eater)
SIZE

Length - very roughly 6.5 ft (2 m) long
Height - ?
Weight - ?
WHEN IT LIVED

Late Cretaceous period, roughly 72-65 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana, Texas, and perhaps Wyoming, North America.
FOSSILS

This dinosaur is known from only serrated teeth.
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
  • Tetanura - advanced theropods with three fingers
  • Infraorder Coelurosauria - lightly-built fast-running predators with hollow bones and large brains
  • Genus Ricardoestesia
  • Species R. gilmorei (type species named by Phillip Currie, Rigby, and Sloan, 1990)
INTERESTING FACTS

Very little is known about Ricardoestesia, since so far, only its teeth have been found.