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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 ...
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Mononykus Restoration
''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 ...
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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 ...
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Alvarezsaurid Scale Martyniuk
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 ...
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Alvarezsaurid
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 ...
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Alvarezsauridae
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 ...
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Nemegt Formation
The Nemegt Formation (also known as Nemegtskaya Svita) is a geological formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, dating to the Late Cretaceous. The formation consists of river channel sediments and contains fossils of fish, turtles, crocodilians, and a diverse fauna of dinosaurs, including birds. Description The Nemegt Formation is composed of mudstones and sandstones that were deposited by ancient lakes, streams, and flood plains. The Altan Uul locality was described by Michael Novacek as "a canyon carved out of a very rich series of sedimentary rocks" with "steep cliffs and narrow washes". The climate associated with it was wetter than when preceding formations were deposited; there seems to have existed at least some degree of forest cover. Fossilized trunks have been also found. These petrified wood, and the remains of Araucariaceae conifers indicate that the forests of the Nemegt were thickly wooded, with a high canopy formed by tall conifer trees. When examined, the rock ...
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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'' ...
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Mononychus
''Mononychus'' is a genus of minute seed weevils in the family of beetles known as Curculionidae. There are at least 20 described species in ''Mononychus''. Species These 25 species belong to the genus ''Mononychus'': * '' Mononychus algerinus'' Gandolphe, * '' Mononychus amurensis'' Schultze, 1898 * '' Mononychus angustus'' Schultze, 1899 * '' Mononychus caucasicus'' Kolen., 1859 * '' Mononychus euphraticus'' Schultze, 1897 * '' Mononychus interponens'' Schultze, 1901 * '' Mononychus interruptus'' Schultze, 1901 * '' Mononychus ireos'' (Pallas, P.S., 1773) * '' Mononychus kolenatii'' Kolen., 1859 * '' Mononychus pallidicornis'' Pic, 1900 * '' Mononychus pseudacori'' Schoenherr, 1825 * '' Mononychus punctumalbum'' (Herbst, J.F.W., 1784) * '' Mononychus quadrifossulatus'' Chevr., 1872 * '' Mononychus rondoui'' Vuillet, 1911 * '' Mononychus salviae'' Germar, 1824 * '' Mononychus schönherri'' Kolen., 1859 * '' Mononychus spermaticus'' Beck., 1862 * '' Mononychus sulcatocarinulatu ...
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Djadochta Formation
The Djadochta Formation (sometimes transcribed and also known as Djadokhta, Djadokata, or Dzhadokhtskaya) is a highly fossiliferous geological formation situated in Central Asia, Gobi Desert, dating from the Late Cretaceous period, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. The type locality is the Bayn Dzak locality, famously known as the Flaming Cliffs. Dinosaur, mammal, and other reptile remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. Excavation history The Djadochta Formation was first documented and explored—though only a single locality—during paleontological expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History in 1922–1925, which were part of the Central Asiatic Expeditions. The expeditions were led by Roy Chapman Andrews, in company of Walter Willis Granger as chief paleontologist and field team. The team did extensive exploration at the Bayn Dzak (formerly Shabarakh Usu) region, which they nicknamed Flaming Cliffs given that at sunset th ...
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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 ...
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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

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Feathers
Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They are among the characteristics that distinguish the extant birds from other living groups. Although feathers cover most of the bird's body, they arise only from certain well-defined tracts on the skin. They aid in flight, thermal insulation, and waterproofing. In addition, coloration helps in communication and protection. Plumology (or plumage science) is the name for the science that is associated with the study of feathers. Feathers have a number of utilitarian, cultural, and religious uses. Feathers are both soft and excellent at trapping heat; thus, they are sometimes used in high-class bedding, especially pillows, blankets, and mattresses. They are also used as filling for winter clothin ...
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