Kuru (/ˈkuruˈkʊlə/, after Kurukullā, a Tibetan Buddhist deity) is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous Barun Goyot Formation of Mongolia.

[2] The holotype of Kuru kulla was discovered by an American-Mongolian expedition at Khulsan in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, on 5 July 1991 a few hours before the discovery of the related taxon Shri and was reposited at the Institute of Geology at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in Ulaanbaatar.

In their paper describing the large dromaeosaurid Achillobator, Perle and colleagues listed a bibliographic entry titled "Morphology of a Dromaeosaurian dinosaur - Airakoraptor from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia".

[2][7] The holotype was formally described and named in 2021 by James G. Napoli, Alexander Altieri Ruebenstahl, Bhart-Anjan Singh Bhullar, Alan Hamilton Turner, and Mark Allen Norell.

The holotype specimen is known from an incomplete skeleton that is overall similar to other known eudromaeosaurs, indicating that in life it would have resembled its better-understood relatives like Velociraptor and Tsaagan.

Napoli and colleagues distinguished Kuru from all other eudromaeosaurs by identifying several autapomorphies including: a deep groove in front of the anterior margin of the external naris, a small horn-like projection on the lacrimal bone, two foramina on the rear of the surangular bone, and pleurocoels on the dorsal vertebrae which are shifted forward compared to related taxa.

No study of its functional anatomy has been completed, but the authors hypothesize that these traits suggest slight ecological differences between Kuru and its closest relatives.

The lacrimal also preserved a deep excavation on its ventral side, which was interpreted by Napoli and colleagues to be the canal through which the nasolacrimal duct passed.

It preserved 14 (or possibly 15) tooth positions, which is much higher than the 11-12 typical of other dromaeosaurs, although it is similar to Saurornitholestes, which has a comparable number of dentary teeth.

Napoli and colleagues also comment that the putative tyrannosauroid Bagaraatan has two surangular foramina, but remark that the specimen may be a chimera and thus may offer limited comparative value.

The exact positions of the vertebrae in the spinal column is not known, but comparisons with the related taxa Tsaagan and Shri enabled Napoli and colleagues to give them tentative assignments.

The uniting synapomorphies for these two taxa include a posterior surangular foramen that excavates 30% of the depth of the bone, an absence of the fourth trochanter, and thoracic centra that are longer than they are wide.

[8] However, the authors also note that the support values for their analysis are relatively low and that further sampling of existing and new taxa would be needed to resolve a more well-supported phylogeny.

Rahonavis) Shanag Microraptoria Saurornitholestes Bambiraptor Dromaeosaurus Utahraptor Linheraptor Tsaagan Deinonychus Adasaurus Shri Velociraptor In the years since its initial description, dromaeosaurs have been the subject of several phylogenetic analyses.

Powers, Matteo Fabbri, Michael R. Doschak, Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, Davis Evans, Mark A. Norell, and Philip J. Currie.

Powers and colleagues conducted a broad phylogenetic analysis using a data set accrued by the use of CT scanning applied to the maxillae of several eudromaeosaurs.

[11] The first major analysis to include Kuru by name was the publication which described the new genus Daurlong from the Longjiang Formation of northeastern China.

[12] The most recent phylogeny to include Kuru was published by Łukasz Czepiński and accompanied his description of a skull assigned to the genus Shri.

Czepiński's primary concern was with the genus Shri and its relationship to Velociraptor, and both analyses resulted in substantially similar placements on the tree for these genera.

[2][14] It has been speculated that these animals may have had similar prey preferences,[2] but it is also possible that they each filled a unique ecological niche due to the presumed difference in the skull length of Shri and Kuru.

[14] The type and only specimen of Kuru was found at a locality called Khulsan of the Barun Goyot Formation, which is near the Mongolian city of Gurvan Tes in the Ömnögovi Province.

[17] This formation is mostly characterized by series of red beds, mostly light-coloured sands (yellowish, grey-brown, and rarely reddish) that are locally cemented.

[15][16] The overall geology of the formation indicates that sediments were deposited under relatively arid to semiarid climates in alluvial plain, lacustrine, and aeolian paleoenvironments, with addition of other short-lived water bodies.