Patagonykus puertai Patagonykus
"Patagonian claw"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Patagonykus 1 m (3.3 ft) long
2 people holding hands
- Length
- 1 m (3.3 ft)
- Period
- Cretaceous (145–66 Mya)
- Place
- Argentina · Mongolia
- Food
- Carnivore
- Clade
- Dinosauria
Patagonykus (meaning “Patagonian claw”) is a genus of alvarezsauroid theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina. It was discovered in exposures of the Portezuelo Formation (Turonian-Coniacian) of the Rio Neuquén Subgroup in the Neuquén Basin, Neuquén Province. 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 also Argentinian Alvarezsaurus. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 1 m and its weight at 3.5 kg.
What we know
- Named by Novas, 1996.
- Body length estimated at about 1 m.
- Fossils found in Argentina and Mongolia.