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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] |
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. H ... [...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 and weight of . 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 Sciences (MPC) preparator Otkhoon Zhargal. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 "egg" and "lizard". The specific name, "''alifanovi''" honors the late Russian paleontologist Vladimir Alifanov who found the holotype specimen (PIN 5838/1) in 1999. Description ''Ondogurve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qiupanykus
''Qiupanykus'' (IPA: , meaning "claw from the Qiupa Formation") is an extinct genus of alvarezsaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Henan Province, China. The type and only species is ''Q. zhangi'', named for Shuancheng Zhang, who assisted in finding the fossils of ''Qiupanykus''. Discovery The Qiupa Formation is located in the Tantou Basin which is in Luanchuan County of the Henan province in China. Lithological correlation of the local strata has dated the Qiupa Formation to the Late Cretaceous. More specific analyses have suggested that the formation dates to the end of the Maastrichtian stage, which was the final stage of the Mesozoic Era. This would make ''Qiupanykus'' and its contemporaries were among the last-surviving non-avian dinosaurs. The Qiupa Formation preserves a wide variety of dinosaur eggs, many of which have been named as ootaxa, as well as body fossils. Alvarezsaurid remains were found near the village of Guanping in Luanchuan Cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barun Goyot Formation
The Baruungoyot Formation (also known as Barun Goyot) is a geological formation dating to the Late Cretaceous Period. It is located within and is widely represented in the Gobi Desert Basin, in the Ömnögovi Province of Mongolia. Description It was previously known as the Lower Nemegt Beds occurring beneath the Nemegt Formation and above the Djadokhta Formation. It has been suggested that the Djadokhta and Baruungoyot Formations are lower and upper parts, respectively, of the same lithological unit and the boundary between the two does not exist. The stratotype of the Baruungoyot Formation is the Khulsan locality, east of Nemegt. At Nemegt, only the uppermost barungoyotian beds are visible. The ''Red Beds of Khermeen Tsav'' are also considered part of the Baruungoyot Formation. It is approximately in thickness,Gradzinski, R.; & Jerzykiewicz, T. (1974). Sedimentation of the Barun Goyot formation. Palaeontologica Polonica, 30, 111-146. and was laid down roughly 72-71 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dzharaonyx
''Dzharaonyx'' (meaning "Dzharakuduk claw", named after the type locality) is a genus of alvarezsaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. The type species, type and only species is ''D. eski''. The specific epithet ''"eski"'' is an Uzbek language, Uzbek word for "old". Discovery and naming All remains of ''Dzharaonyx'' were discovered at a single locality called Dzharakuduk, which is in the Kyzylkum Desert of Uzbekistan. The first remains belonging to alvarezsaurid dinosaurs, which would later be referred to ''Dzharaonyx'' were discovered by Lev Nesov during the period between 1977-1994 who was a paleontologist employed by the Soviet Union. Additional remains would be found in the period between 1997-2006 by the so-called "URBAC joint-paleontological expedition", so named because it involved the collaboration of five countries — Uzbekistan, Russia, UK, Britain, United States, America, and Canada. During both of these periods of expedition, re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alvarezsaurus
''Alvarezsaurus'' (; "Alvarez's lizard") is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, living in Argentina approximately 86 - 79 million years ago. It was a small dinosaur, measuring long and weighing approximately . It was found in the Bajo de la Carpa Formation and was named by paleontologist José Bonaparte in 1991 after the historian Don Gregorio Alvarez. The type species is ''A. calvoi''. Description Growing to measure and weigh around , ''Alvarezsaurus'' was a bipedal theropod. Like other lightweight theropods, it had a long tail, and its leg structure suggests that it was a fast runner. The most proximal elements of ''Alvarezsaurus'' caudal vertebrae exhibited ventrally sharp centra and the transverse processes of these vertebrae were sub-triangular and laterodistally directed, features seen in other alvarezsaurids like ''Shuvuuia''. Spinal processes were entirely absent or poorly developed, and each caudal vertebra supported short prezygapophyses. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Achillesaurus
''Achillesaurus'' is a genus of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Santonian-age Upper Cretaceous Bajo de la Carpa Formation of Rio Negro, Argentina. It contains one species, ''Achillesaurus manazzonei.'' Discovery and naming The holotype specimen of ''Achillesaurus,'' MACN-PV-RN 1116, was discovered in 1995 by a team of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” led by Dr. José F. Bonaparte. It was found in the Paso Córdova Locality, Río Negro Province, northern Patagonia, where the Santonian-aged Bajo de la Carpa Formation outcrops. Its genus name was chosen in reference to Achilles' heel, because diagnostic features are found there for these animals, while the species name honors Professor Rafael Manazzone, an amateur paleontologist whose knowledge of Patagonian fossils and localities assisted the researchers on their field trips. Description The genus was a relatively large, basal alvarezsaurid, and a contemporary of ''Alvarezsauru ... [...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. ''Albert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the Latin word for the white limestone known as chalk. The chalk of northern France and the white cliffs of south-eastern England date from the Cretaceous Period. Climate During the Late Cretaceous, the climate was warmer than present, although throughout the period a cooling trend is evident. The tropics became restricted to equatorial regions and northern latitudes experienced markedly more seasonal climatic conditions. Geography Due to plate tectonics, the Americas were gradually moving westward, causing the Atlantic Ocean to expand. The Western Interior Seaway divided North America into eastern and western halves; Appalachia and Laramidia. India maintained a northward course towards Asia. In the Southern Hemisphere, Aus ... [...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 origi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
