of the journal Nature. Zanno subsequently and informally described Falcarius as "the ultimate in bizarre: a cross between an ostrich, a gorilla, and Edward Scissorhands." The generic name, Falcarius, is literally taken from the Latin falcarius (meaning sickle cutter) in reference to the large hand claws. The specific name, utahensis, reflects the provenance from Utah. The holotype specimen, UMNH VP 15000, consists of a partial braincase and a large number of paratypes were assigned. Falcarius has since been described in detail by Zanno in a series of studies, beginning with her thesis in 2004. Description Falcarius is known from multiple specimens at different ontogenic stages. While the smallest specimen was approximately less than , average adults were about in length weighing approximately . Skull The head anatomy of Falcarius is partially known. The skull was small and elongated. With its long neck, Falcarius could apparently reach about off the ground to munch leaves or fruit. The teeth numbered at least sixteen in the maxilla of the upper jaw. The dentary (part of the lower jaw) carried twenty-eight teeth. Its small leaf-shaped and very finely serrated maxillary teeth indicate that it consumed plant material. The front-most five teeth of the lower jaw are much longer, straighter and more pointed though, and might indicate a partially omnivorous diet including meat, e.g. small animals such as lizards. In the back of the head, the braincase was relatively large. Its lower elements were moderately inflated by pneumatised, hollowed-out, bone tissue. The large skull opening in the snout, the fenestra antorbitalis, is positioned in a depression which reaches the side of the nasal bone. There are at least five pairs of conical teeth in the front of the lower jaws. These teeth are hollowed-out at the inside. On the underside of the vertebrae of the neck there is a depression with at the mid-line a ridge. On the underside of the braincase there is a well-developed depression, the recessus basisphenoidalis. At the back of the head there are deep depressions below the occipital condyle and on the subotics, each with several pneumatic grooves. Postcranial skeleton The partitioning of the vertebral column followed that of most maniraptorans. The neck was very long with elongated cervical vertebrae. The tail was relatively long. The arm was moderately long with a somewhat robust humerus. The relatively large, and slightly recurved, pointed ten- to thirteen-centimeter (four- to five-inch) hand claws