Ceratonykus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
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Life restoration | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Family: | †Alvarezsauridae |
Genus: | †Ceratonykus Alifanov & Barsbold, 2009 |
Species: | †C. oculatus
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Binomial name | |
†Ceratonykus oculatus Alifanov & Barsbold, 2009
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Ceratonykus (meaning "horned claw") is a monospecific genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur from Mongolia that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian stage, 72.1 Ma) in what is now the Barun Goyot Formation. The type and only species, Ceratonykus oculatus, is known from a fragmentary skeleton, including an incomplete skull, of an adult individual. It was named and described in 2009 by Vladimir Alifanov and Rinchen Barsbold. Its describers questioned the traditional placement of alvarezsaurs in Theropoda, instead suggesting they were ornithischians, but this has not been accepted since. Ceratonykus has an estimated length of 75 centimetres (2.46 feet) and weight of 760 grams (1.68 pounds). It has been considered as a possible junior synonym of Parvicursor.