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Description
The Eocene was a golden age for Oviraptorosaurs. Due to the abundance of tropical and sub-tropical forest across the whole of the northern hemisphere, there was plenty of readily available food for these most omnivorous of theropods. This abundance, coupled with the presence of land bridges connecting North America and Eurasia, led to an explosion of evolutionary diversity. While some Oviraptorosaurs become increasingly large and predacious, others moved in the direction of herbivory or granivory. One example of the latter were the early Avimimids.

Descended from the odd, late cretaceous Avimimus, these basal Oviraptorosaurs were quite common in Paleogene Asia. All genera were fairly similar in outward appearance, being small (1.5-3m long), cursorial Galliform-like herbivores. Their diet, like their larger modern descendants, consisted mostly of fruit, leaves and seeds. Hetangia was a rather 'typical' Eocene Avimimid from the Ypresian stage of the Lingcha Formation, China. Known from a single, fragmentary specimen consisting of hind limb elements, tail vertebrae and roughly half of the torso without the head and neck. From these remains we can confidently that Hetangia was a 2m long, cursorial herbivore/omnivore with long legs, short forelimbs and a stubby tail. This overall form would remain consistent for Avimimids throughout the Eocene and into the early Oligocene. However, with the expansion of grasslands during the Miocene and the extinction of the Ornithomimosaurs, Avimimids would increasingly replace retreating forests for the open plains.

Artwork illustrated by Sheather888. Seriously, go and check out his illustrations!

Description
The Eocene was a golden age for Oviraptorosaurs. Due to the abundance of tropical and sub-tropical forest across the whole of the northern hemisphere, there was plenty of readily available food for these most omnivorous of theropods. This abundance, coupled with the presence of land bridges connecting North America and Eurasia, led to an explosion of evolutionary diversity. While some Oviraptorosaurs become increasingly large and predacious, others moved in the direction of herbivory or granivory. One example of the latter were the early Avimimids.

Descended from the odd, late cretaceous Avimimus, these basal Oviraptorosaurs were quite common in Paleogene Asia. All genera were fairly similar in outward appearance, being small (1.5-3m long), cursorial Galliform-like herbivores. Their diet, like their larger modern descendants, consisted mostly of fruit, leaves and seeds. Hetangia was a rather 'typical' Eocene Avimimid from the Ypresian stage of the Lingcha Formation, China. Known from a single, fragmentary specimen consisting of hind limb elements, tail vertebrae and roughly half of the torso without the head and neck. From these remains we can confidently that Hetangia was a 2m long, cursorial herbivore/omnivore with long legs, short forelimbs and a stubby tail. This overall form would remain consistent for Avimimids throughout the Eocene and into the early Oligocene. However, with the expansion of grasslands during the Miocene and the extinction of the Ornithomimosaurs, Avimimids would increasingly replace retreating forests for the open plains.

Artwork illustrated by Sheather888. Seriously, go and check out his illustrations!