Dinosaurs A to Z
Alvarezsauridae

Xixianykus zhangi

Generic theropod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Xixianykus 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic theropod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Xixianykus
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (83 Mya)
Place
China
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Alvarezsauridae

Xixianykus is a genus of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaur known from a slab of rock which contains a partial postcranial skeleton unearthed in the Late Cretaceous (Coniacian-Santonian) Majiacun Formation of the Xixia Basin in Henan, China.

What we know

  • Named by Xu et al., 2010.
  • Fossils found in China.

What we guess

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