In Depth Linhenykus has the distinctive feature of incredibly reduced arms that are typical of the alvarezsauroids. What makes Lynhenykus stand out from the group though is the fact that it had only one finger. A bone for a second finger was discovered but the nub is not thought to have been functional. Although at … Read more
In Depth Bannykus is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the early Cretaceous. The overall lack of fossil remains at the time of its description makes it hard to ascertain details about Bannykus, though the size of the leg bones alone suggest that Bannykus was among the larger known alvarezsaurs. Further … Read more
In Depth Shishugounykus is a genus of small alvareszaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Jurassic. Further Reading - A new alvarezsaurian theropod from the Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of western China. - Scientific Reports, 9: 11727. - Z. Qin, J. Clark, J. Choiniere & X. Xu - 2019.
In Depth Alvarezsaurus was the first of a group of dinosaurs that were first discovered late into the twentieth century. Since it was the first, Alvarezsaurus was used to name this new group which became known as the alvarezsaurs. At the time of writing there are now several genera of alvarezsaurs known to us, but … Read more
In Depth Achillesaurus has been identified as a basal alvarezsaur that lived in Argentina during the late Cretaceous, but there is now some question to its validity. Achillesaurus was thought to have lived alongside the type genus of the alvarezsauridae, Alvarezsaurus. A 2012 study by Makovicky et al. however has raised the notion that Achillesaurus … Read more
In Depth At the time of its description Haplocheirus was the oldest known alvarezsaur by an impressive sixty-three million years before the previous record holder. This places Haplocheirus firmly within the Oxfordian stage of the Jurassic revealing that the alvarezsaurs began at least this far back rather than the early Cretaceous period as previously thought. … Read more