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Dinosauria

Bonapartenykus

"José F. Bonaparte"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Bonapartenykus 3.3 m (10.8 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
Length
3.3 m (10.8 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (100–66 Mya)
Place
Argentina
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Bonapartenykus reconstruction by TotalDino
Reconstruction · TotalDino (CC-BY)

Bonapartenykus (meaning “José F. Bonaparte’s claw”) is an extinct genus of alvarezsauroid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) of what is now the Allen Formation of the Río Negro Province, Argentina. The genus contains a single species, Bonapartenykus ultimus, known from a partially articulated, incomplete skeleton that was found in close association to two incomplete eggs and several clusters of eggshells belonging to the oogenus Arriagadoolithus. Bonapartenykus was named in 2012. It has an estimated length of 2.5 – 3.3 m and weight of 43 – 72 kg, making it the largest member of the clade Alvarezsauroidea. Additional skeletons referrable to this genus have subsequently been described.

What we know

  • Named by Agnolin et al. 2012.
  • Body length estimated at about 3.3 m.
  • Fossils found in Argentina.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Bonapartenykus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.