Alvarezsaurus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Alvarezsaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous |
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| Skeleton restoration | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Family: | Alvarezsauridae |
| Genus: | Alvarezsaurus Bonaparte, 1991 |
| Species | |
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A. calvoi Bonaparte, 1991 (type) |
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Alvarezsaurus is a small dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina, about 86-83 million years ago. It measured about 2 meters in length and weighed 20 kilograms.
It was named by paleontologist Jose Bonaparte in 1991. It walked on two legs, had a long tail, and its leg structure suggests that it was a fast runner. It may have eaten insects. It was more primitive than other, better-known members of its family, such as Mononykus and Shuvuuia.
In popular culture [change]
Alvarezsaurus was featured in the Discovery Channel television series Dinosaur Planet, which speculated that it was a predator of young Saltasaurus, although these species did not exist at the same time, Alvarezsaurus being about 5 million years older than Saltasaurus.
