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Alvarezsaurids
Alvarezsauridae is a family of small, long-legged dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, they are now thought to be an early diverging branch of maniraptoran theropods. Alvarezsaurids were highly specialized. They had tiny but stout forelimbs, with compact, bird-like hands. Their skeletons suggest that they had massive breast and arm muscles, possibly adapted for digging or tearing. They had long, tube-shaped snouts filled with tiny teeth. They have been interpreted as myrmecophagous, adapted to prey on colonial insects such as termites, with the short arms acting as effective digging instruments to break into nests. ''Alvarezsaurus'', the type genus of the family, was named for the historian Gregorio Álvarez. History of study Bonaparte (1991) described the first alvarezsaurid, ''Alvarezsaurus calvoi'', from an incomplete skeleton found in Patagonia, Argentina. Bonaparte also named a family, Alvarezsauridae, to contain it. He a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceratonykus
''Ceratonykus'' (meaning "horned claw") is a monospecific genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur from Mongolia that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian stage, 72.1 Ma) in what is now the Barun Goyot Formation. The type and only species, ''Ceratonykus oculatus'', is known from a fragmentary skeleton, including an incomplete skull, of an adult individual. It was named and described in 2009 by Vladimir Alifanov and Rinchen Barsbold. Its describers questioned the traditional placement of alvarezsaurs in Theropoda, instead suggesting they were ornithischians, but this has not been accepted since. ''Ceratonykus'' has an estimated length of 75 centimetres (2.5 feet) and weight of 760 grams (1.68 lbs). It has been considered as a possible junior synonym of ''Parvicursor''. Discovery and naming In 2003, a partial skeleton of an alvarezsaurid was discovered in the Barun Goyot Formation of the Khermiin Tsav locality, Mongolia by the Paleontological Center of the Mongolian Academy of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xixianykus
''Xixianykus'' is a genus of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period of China.Xu, X., Wang, D.Y., Sullivan, C., Hone, D.W.E., Han, F.L., Yan, R.H. and Du, F.M. (2010). "A basal parvicursorine (Theropoda: Alvarezsauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of China.". ''Zootaxa'', 2413: 1-19. Discovery and naming The fossil, holotype XMDFEC V0011, was found in the Majiacun Formation in Henan Province, China. The fossil consists of a partial skeleton, without the skull. Parts of the hind legs, pelvis and spine has also been recovered. ''Xixianykus'' is among the oldest of the derived alvarezsauroids, the parvicursorines, dated to the Santonian– Coniacian, as opposed to other parvicursorines, which are either Campanian or Maastrichtian.Hone, D. (2010)''Xixianykus zhangi'' - A New AlvarezsaurDave Hone's Archosaur Musings, April 23, 2011. The type species is ''Xixianykus zhangi'' described in 2010 by Xu Xing. The genus name refers to Xixia County and to the Greek w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shuvuuia
''Shuvuuia'' is a genus of bird-like theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period of Mongolia. It is a member of the family Alvarezsauridae, small coelurosaurian dinosaurs which are characterized by short but powerful forelimbs specialized for digging. The type (and only known) species is ''Shuvuuia deserti'', or "desert bird".Chiappe, L.M., Norell, M. A., and Clark, J. M. (1998). "The skull of a relative of the stem-group bird ''Mononykus''." ''Nature'', 392(6673): 275-278. The name ''Shuvuuia'' is derived from the Mongolian word ''shuvuu'' (шувуу) meaning "bird". Description ''Shuvuuia'' was a small and lightly built animal. At in length and in body mass, it is one of the smallest known non-avian dinosaurs. The skull is lightly built with long and slender jaws and minute teeth. ''Shuvuuia'' is unique among non-avian theropods in the skull's ability to perform prokinesis, that is, it could flex its upper jaw independently of its braincase. The hindlimbs of ''Shuvu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albinykus
''Albinykus'' (meaning " Albin claw", after a term used by Mongolian shamans to describe light phenomena in the Gobi Desert) is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur. Fossils have been found from Late Cretaceous-age (Santonian) Javkhlant Formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. The type species ''A. baatar'' was named by Sterling J. Nesbitt, Julia A. Clarke, Alan H. Turner and Mark A. Norell in 2011. Estimated at under in weight, ''Albinykus'' was one of the smallest alvarezsaurs and among the smallest non avian dinosaurs. The body size of alvarezsaurs decreased throughout their evolutionary history, and ''Albinykus'' represents a particularly derived form. One distinguishing feature of ''Albinykus'' not seen in other alvarezsaurids is the complete fusion of the tarsals to other bones of the leg; the proximal tarsals are fused to the tibia bone of the lower leg and the distal tarsals are fused to the metatarsal bones of the foot. The holotype skeleton of ''Albinykus'', specimen IG ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trierarchuncus
''Trierarchuncus'' (meaning "captain hook," after its single-clawed hands) is a monotypic genus of alvarezsaurid theropod which includes a single species, ''Trierarchuncus prairiensis'', which is known from fossils found in deposits of the Hell Creek Formation in Montana. It is the youngest known alvarezsaurid and one of the last non-avian dinosaurs, going extinct during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which occurred approximately 66 million years ago. Discovery and naming The first remains ware discovered in Montana in 1980 and it was informally known as the "Hell Creek alvarezsaur".Hutchinson and Chiappe, 1998. The first known alvarezsaurid (Theropoda: Aves) from North America. ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology''. 18(3), 447–450. The then unnamed species was not mentioned again until it was mentioned briefly in the 2018 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology abstract book. The species and genus were scientifically described by Denver Fowler and colleagues in 2020 ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mononykus
''Mononykus'' ( , sometimes ; meaning "one claw") is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Asia on the Nemegt Formation, about 70 million years ago. ''Mononykus'' was a very small theropod, estimated around in length with a weight of . As in ''Shuvuuia'', ''Mononykus'' likely developed a shaggy feathering. It was lightly built with long, thin legs and highly reduced and specialized forelimbs that were likely used for foraging termite mounds or other insect colonies. History of discovery ''Mononykus'' is represented by a single holotype specimen, catalog number MPC-D 107/6 (formerly IGM 107/6). It was collected in 1987 from the Bügiin Tsav locality of the Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert. This specimen consists of a partial skeleton lacking a tail, and only small fragments of skull bones, including a complete braincase. ''Mononykus'' was originally named ''Mononychus'' in 1993, but later that year, it was renamed because the origin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parvicursor
''Parvicursor'' (meaning "small runner") is a genus of tiny maniraptoran dinosaur with long slender legs for fast running. At only about from snout to end of tail, and in weight, it was initially seen as one of the smallest non-avian dinosaurs known from an adult specimen.Which was the smallest dinosaur? Royal Tyrrell Museum. Last accessed 2008-05-23. However, in 2022 its was concluded to represent a juvenile individual. Like other members of the |
Ondogurvel
''Ondogurvel'' () (meaning "egg lizard") is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Barun Goyot Formation in southern Mongolia. The type and only species is ''O. alifanovi'', known from a partial skeleton consisting of fragments of two last dorsal vertebrae, three anterior sacral vertebrae, right ilium, left and right pubis and ischium, articulated right tibia, fibula, metatarsals II and IV, and phalanges IV-1 and IV-2, right carpometacarpus, left and right manual phalanx II-1, right femur, left pedal phalanx II-1, and fragments of unidentified phalanges. Discovery and naming In 2022, the type species ''Ondogurvel alifanovi'' was named and described by Alexander O. Averianov and Alexey V. Lopatin. The generic name, "''Ondogurvel''" combines the Mongolian words өндөг “ondo” (), meaning egg, and гүрвэл “gurvel” (), meaning lizard. The specific name, "''alifanovi''" () honors the late Russian paleontologist Vladimir Alifanov who fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemegtonykus
''Nemegtonykus'' (meaning "Nemegt claw" after the Nemegt Formation where it was found) is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Nemegt Formation in Mongolia. The type and only species is ''Nemegtonykus citus''. It is the second alvarezsaur known from the Nemegt Formation, the other being ''Mononykus''. Discovery In 2008, the Korea-Mongolia International Dinosaur Expedition at the Altan Uul III site in the Gobi Desert excavated a dense concentration of theropod skeletons. Some of these were of ''Gobiraptor'' as well as a yet undescribed oviraptorid but three were of Alvarezsauridae. One specimen, MPC-D 100/206, was considered cf. ''Mononykus'' sp. but the other two represented a species new to science. In 2019, the type species ''Nemegtonykus citus'' was named and described by Lee Sungjin, Park Jin-Young, Lee Yuong-Nam, Kim Su-Hwan, Lü Junchang, Rinchen Barsbold and Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar. The generic name combines a reference to the Nemegt with a Greek ὄνυξ, ''onyx'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albertonykus
''Albertonykus'' (meaning "Alberta claw") is an alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Maastrichtian-age (Upper Cretaceous) rocks of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, Canada. It is known from forelimb and hindlimb remains from multiple individuals. All but two of the specimens come from a bonebed dominated by ''Albertosaurus'', located at the top of Unit 4 of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation,Larson, D. W., Brinkman, D. B., & Bell, P. R. (2010). Faunal assemblages from the upper Horseshoe Canyon Formation, an early Maastrichtian cool-climate assemblage from Alberta, with special reference to the Albertosaurus sarcophagus bonebed This article is one of a series of papers published in this Special Issue on the theme Albertosaurus. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 47(9), 1159-1181. dating to ~68.5 million years ago. ''Albertonykus'' is interpreted as having fed on wood-nesting termites because the forelimbs appear specialized for digging, but are too short for burrowing. ''Alber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qiupanykus
''Qiupanykus'' (meaning "Qiupa claw" after the Qiupa Formation) is a genus of alvarezsaurid coelurosaur theropod from the Late Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of southern China. Fossil eggs believed to be those of an oviraptorid found in association with the holotype specimen indicate that both ''Qiupanykus'' and other alvarezsaurids may have been specialist egg eaters that used their robust thumb claws to crack open eggshells. Phylogeny Lü Junchang ''et al.'' (2018) recovered ''Qiupanykus'' as a member of the Alvarezsauridae, falling closer to ''Parvicursor'' than to ''Patagonykus''. Although not formally assigned to the clade Parvicursorinae Alvarezsauridae is a family of small, long-legged dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, they are now thought to be an early diverging branch of maniraptoran theropods. Alvarezsaurids were highly ... in the description, this position would make it a member of Parvicursorinae ''sensu'' Xu ''e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khulsanurus
''Khulsanurus'' (meaning "tail from Khulsan") is an extinct genus of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Barungoyot Formation of the Khulsan Locality in the Gobi Desert region of Mongolia. The type and only species is ''Khulsanurus magnificus''. Description ''Khulsanurus'' is known from a holotype containing partial vertebral series of the neck and tail, scapulocoracoids, a right humerus, a possible left humerus, and a left pubis. Distinguishing autapomorphies of this specimen include pleurocoel-, carotid process-, and epipophysis-less cervical vertebrae, prominent infrapostzygapophyseal fossa of the caudal vertebrae which also bear anteriorly pointing prezygapophyses. Classification Averianov & Lopatin (2021) placed ''Khulsanurus'' in a polytomy with ''Albinykus'', ''Ceratonykus'', ''Linhenykus'', ''Parvicursor'', ''Xixianykus'', ''Qiupanykus'', ''Nemegtonykus'', PIN 5838/1 (=''Ondogurvel'') and a clade containing ''Shuvuuia'' and ''Mononykus'' in a str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
