Shri (genus)

Shri (named after Palden Lhamo, a Buddhist deity) is an extinct genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaurs that lived in what is now Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous. The genus contains two species; the first, Shri devi, was described in 2021 by Alan H. Turner and colleagues based on a partial postcranial skeleton from the Barun Goyot Formation. A second specimen, including a partial skull and hindlimb, was later referred to this species. The second species, Shri rapax, was described in 2025 by Léa Moutrille and colleagues based on a nearly complete skeleton including a skull (though the skull has subsequently been lost) from the Djadokhta Formation.

History

The holotype specimen of Shri devi, the type species of the genus Shri, is IGM 100/980. This specimen was discovered on 5 July 1991 by Mark Norell. It was nicknamed "Ichabodcraniosaurus" by Norell, as mentioned by Novacek (1996), after Ichabod Crane, a fictional character haunted by a headless ghost, because it lacked the skull. In 1999 it was provisionally considered a specimen of Velociraptor mongoliensis. It consists of a partially articulated individual that preserves the right hindlimb, the left tibiotarsus, as well as the pelvis and a series of cervical, dorsal, sacral and caudal vertebrae.

In 2023, Polish paleontologist Łukasz Czepiński referred a new specimen to the genus, ZPAL MgD-I/97, represented by a partial skull and left hindlimb.