Patagonykus (meaning "Patagonian claw") is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina. This alvarezsauroid was discovered in exposures of the Portezuelo Formation (Turonian-Coniacian) of the Rio Neuquén Subgroup in the Neuquén Basin, Neuquen Province of Patagonia, Argentina. The holotype consists of an incomplete but well-preserved skeleton, lacking a skull, but including many vertebrae, the coracoids, a partial forelimb, pelvic girdle, and hindlimbs. Patagonykus has been classed with the Alvarezsauridae, a family which includes such taxa as the Mongolian Mononykus and the Argentinian Alvarezsaurus. In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 1 meter (3.3 ft) and its weight at 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs).[1]
| Patagonykus | |
|---|---|
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| Reconstructed skeleton | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | †Patagonykinae |
| Genus: | †Patagonykus Novas, 1996 |
| Species: | †P. puertai
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| Binomial name | |
| †Patagonykus puertai Novas, 1996
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Classification
editAgnolin et al. (2012) originally placed Patagonykus within Alvarezsauridae, within the clade Patagonykinae as sister taxon to Bonapartenykus.[2] Makovicky, Apesteguía and Gianechini (2012) found it to be in a polytomy with Alnashetri, Bonapartenykus, and a clade containing more deeply nested taxa such as Linhenykus, Mononykus and Albinykus.[3] However, Xu et al. (2018) positioned it as a basal Alvarezsauroidea, sister taxon to Patagonykus and Achillesaurus, which was also recovered by Fowler et al. (2020).[4][5] Patagonykus has also been recovered as sister taxon to Bonapartenykus and Alvarezsauridae by Qin et al. (2019), and sister taxon to only Patagonykus outside of Alvarezsauridae by Averianov & Lopatin (2022a) and Averianov & Lopatin (2022b).[6][7][8]
A phylogenetic analysis conducted by Fowler et al. (2020) is reproduced below.[5]
The results of an earlier analysis by Agnolin et al. (2012) are reproduced below.[2]
| Alvarezsauridae |
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References
edit
- ^ Paul, Gregory S. (2010). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 127.
- ^ a b Agnolin, Federico L.; Powell, Jaime E.; Novas, Fernando E.; Kundrát, Martin (2012-06-01). "New alvarezsaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from uppermost Cretaceous of north-western Patagonia with associated eggs". Cretaceous Research. 35: 33–56. Bibcode:2012CrRes..35...33A. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2011.11.014. ISSN 0195-6671.
- ^ Makovicky, P. J.; Apesteguía, S. N.; Gianechini, F. A. (2012). "A New Coelurosaurian Theropod from the La Buitrera Fossil Locality of Río Negro, Argentina". Fieldiana Life and Earth Sciences. 5: 90–98. doi:10.3158/2158-5520-5.1.90. S2CID 129758444.
- ^ Xu, Xing; Choiniere, Jonah; Tan, Qingwei; Benson, Roger B.J; Clark, James; Sullivan, Corwin; Zhao, Qi; Han, Fenglu; Ma, Qingyu; He, Yiming; Wang, Shuo; Xing, Hai; Tan, Lin (2018). "Two Early Cretaceous Fossils Document Transitional Stages in Alvarezsaurian Dinosaur Evolution". Current Biology. 28 (17): 2853–2860.e3. Bibcode:2018CBio...28E2853X. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.07.057. PMID 30146153.
- ^ a b Denver W. Fowler; John P. Wilson; Elizabeth A. Freedman Fowler; Christopher R. Noto; Daniel Anduza; John R. Horner (2020). "Trierarchuncus prairiensis gen. et sp. nov., the last alvarezsaurid: Hell Creek Formation (uppermost Maastrichtian), Montana". Cretaceous Research. 116: Article 104560. Bibcode:2020CrRes.11604560F. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104560. S2CID 225630913.
- ^ Qin, Zichuan; Clark, James; Choiniere, Jonah; Xu, Xing (2019). "A new alvarezsaurian theropod from the Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of western China". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 11727. Bibcode:2019NatSR...911727Q. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48148-7. PMC 6692367. PMID 31409823. S2CID 199543191.
- ^ Alexander O. Averianov; Alexey V. Lopatin (19 February 2022). "A new alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Gobi Desert, Mongolia". Cretaceous Research. 134: 105168. Bibcode:2022CrRes.13505168A. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105168. S2CID 247000540. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ Averianov AO, Lopatin AV (2022). "A re-appraisal of Parvicursor remotus from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia: implications for the phylogeny and taxonomy of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaurs". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 19 (16): 1097–1128. doi:10.1080/14772019.2021.2013965. S2CID 247222017.
Further reading
edit- F. E. Novas. 1994. Patagonykus puertai n. gen. et sp., and the phylogenetic relationships of the Alvarezsauridae (Theropoda, Maniraptora). VI Congreso Argentino de Paleontología y Bioestratigrafía, R. Cúneo (ed), Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew.
- Novas, F. E. 1997. Anatomy of Patagonykus puertai (Theropoda, Avialae, Alvarezsauridae), from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(1); 137–166.
- Novas, F. E. and Molnar, R. E. (eds.) 1996. Alvarezsauridae, Cretaceous basal birds from Patagonia and Mongolia. Proceedings of the Gondwanan Dinosaur Symposium, Brisbane. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 39(3):iv + 489–731; 675–702.
External links
edit- "Coelurosauria: Alvarezsauridae". Palaeos. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023.
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