Talos sampsoni

Talos Temporal range: Campanian,
Life restoration of T. sampsoni
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Family:	†Troodontidae
Genus:	†Talos Zanno et al., 2011
Species:	†T. sampsoni
Binomial name
†Talos sampsoni Zanno et al., 2011

Talos is an extinct genus of carnivorous bird-like theropod dinosaur, an advanced troodontid which lived during the late Cretaceous period (late Campanian, about 75.95 Ma) in what is now Utah, USA.

Skeletal restoration of the holotype by Scott Hartman, with known parts shown in red

Articulated foot

Talos is known from the holotype UMNH VP 19479, a partial postcranial skeleton of a subadult individual including the handlimbs, pelvis, vertebral fragments, chevrons and the left ulna. It was discovered and collected in 2008 by M. J. Knell during the Kaiparowits Basin Project, initiated by the University of Utah in 2000, from the Kaiparowits Formation within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It was first named by Lindsay E. Zanno, David J. Varricchio, Patrick M. O'Connor, Alan L. Titus, and Michael J. Knell in 2011 and the type species is Talos sampsoni. The generic name comes from Talos, a giant bronze automaton in Greek mythology and is intended to be a pun on the English word talon. The specific name honors television paleontologist Dr. Scott D. Sampson for researching and collecting fossils during the Kaiparowits Basin Project.

Talos is approximately 2 metres (6.6 ft) in length, and its weight has been estimated at thirty-eight kilograms. Talos had a sickle claw. That of the specimen was damaged during life, possibly in an attack on prey.

Talos was in 2011 assigned to the Troodontidae. A cladistic analysis indicated it formed a clade of derived troodontids together with Byronosaurus, Saurornithoides, Zanabazar and Troodon.