Citipati by Moondawg

Citipati (Sanskrit for 'funeral pyre lord') is a genus of oviraptorid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia.

It is one of the best-known oviraptorids, thanks to a number of well-preserved skeletons, including several specimens found in brooding positions atop nests of eggs. These nesting specimens have helped to solidify the link between non-avian dinosaurs and birds.

The type species, Citipati osmolskae, was described by James M. Clark, Mark Norell, and Rinchen Barsbold in 2001. A second, as yet unnamed species may also exist. Citipati is often confused with the similar Oviraptor.

The largest Citipati were emu-sized animals and, at about 3 meters (9 ft) long, were the largest oviraptorids until Gigantoraptor was described in 2007. Like other oviraptorids, Citipati had an unusually long neck and shortened tail, compared to most other theropods. Its skull was unusually short and highly pneumatized (riddled with openings in the bone structure), ending in a stout, toothless beak. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Citipati was its tall crest, superficially similar to that of a modern cassowary. The crest was relatively low in the type species, C. osmolskae, and taller, with a pointed tip, in a referred specimen which has not yet been assigned a specific name (provisionally labelled C. sp.).