Anzu wyliei

Anzu wyliei was named in modern scientific practice as a genus and species of caenagnathid oviraptorosaur. The genus name deliberately evokes the bird-like daemon Anzû from ancient Sumerian/Akkadian mythology to reflect the fossil's bird-like crest and beaked skull, while the specific epithet wyliei honors Wylie J. Tuttle, a donor's grandson. The sources present the taxon as a recovered Late Cretaceous animal (upper Maastrichtian, ~67.2–66.0 Ma) from Hell Creek Formation floodplain deposits, not as a mythic being.

Described from multiple partial skeletons, Anzu wyliei was a large, bird-like, toothless oviraptorosaur characterized by a prominent high crescent-like cranial crest formed by the praemaxillae, a fused front lower jaw with a prominent outer flange, elongated retroarticular process, long arms ending in large curved claws, long powerful legs with slender toes, and a relatively short tail. Size estimates place it at roughly 3.5–3.75 m in length, up to about 1.5 m tall at the hips, and 200–300 kg in mass. Autapomorphic skeletal details noted in the formal description include the occipital condyle wider than the foramen magnum, a distally divided lower radius, a trough on the first phalanx of the second finger, and a tubercle on the astragalus, among other diagnostic features.

Sources infer paleobiological traits rather than supernatural powers: Anzu was probably omnivorous or herbivorous based on beak construction and comparisons with related taxa. Limb proportions and large hindlimbs indicate cursorial capability adapted to floodplain environments. Phylogenetically it is placed in Oviraptorosauria, family Caenagnathidae, and comparisons to other oviraptorosaurs inform inferences about behavior and ecology. The supplied sources do not attribute any supernatural abilities; references to the Mesopotamian Anzû are etymological.