Bonapartenykus

Bonapartenykus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 71-66 Ma
[1]
Life reconstruction
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Patagonykinae
Genus: Bonapartenykus
Agnolin et al. 2012
Species:
B. ultimus
Binomial name
Bonapartenykus ultimus
Agnolin et al. 2012

Bonapartenykus (meaning "José F. Bonaparte's claw") is a monospecific genus of alvarezsauroid dinosaur from Argentina that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) in what is now the upper Allen Formation of the Río Negro Province. The type and only species, Bonapartenykus ultimus, is known from a nearly articulated but partial 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 by Federico L. Agnolin, Jaime E. Powell, Fernando E. Novas and Martin Kundrát.[2] Bonapartenykus has an estimated length of 2.5 m (8.2 ft) and weight of 72 kg (159 lb), making it the largest member of the clade Alvarezsauroidea.

  1. ^ Fernández, Marta; Martin, James; Casadío, Silvio (2008-03-01). "Mosasaurs (Reptilia) from the late Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of northern Patagonia (Río Negro, Argentina)". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 25 (2): 176–186. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2007.07.005. ISSN 0895-9811.
  2. ^ 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.