Citipati osmolskae
"Osmolska's pyre lord"

First described in 2001, Citipati (pronounced CHITT-i-putt-ee) is one of the famous nesting oviraptorids, and it's remains had traveled with the "Fighting Dinosaurs" exhibition starting in 2000. Known from several complete skeletons and a possible embryo, Citipati is large for an oviraptorid at over 2 meters (6ft) long. Like it's close relative Oviraptor, Citipati had a large horn-covered casque adorning it's skull, and a a short toothless beak. The diet of oviraptorids is a mystery - they may have been omnivores, and it's been theorized that they ate everything from meat to mollusks to nuts or fruit. Citipati is known from late Cretaceous Mongolia, and would have lived along side such famous dinosaurs as Oviraptor, Protoceratops, and Velociraptor.

Like all maniraptors, Citipati was covered in fairly advanced feathers, and had broad wings used to shelter and insulate it's nest. Based on impressions from other oviraptors, it's reasonable to assume Citipati had some sort of decorative tail feather fan as well. The coloration I used in the drawing is based on that of an African heron, though Citipati may have had more of a brown-tan coloration to blend in with it's desert environment.