Shishugounykus

Shishugounykus
Temporal range: Late Jurassic, ~160.2 Ma
Skeletal reconstruction
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Superfamily: Alvarezsauroidea
Genus: Shishugounykus
Qin et al., 2019
Type species
Shishugounykus inexpectus
Qin et al., 2019

Shishugounykus (meaning "Shishugou claw" after the Shishugou Formation where it was found) is a genus of basal alvarezsaurian dinosaur from the Shishugou Formation from Xinjiang in China. The type and only species is Shishugounykus inexpectus. The specific name refers to the unexpected discovery of another species of alvarezsaur from the Shishugou Formation (other alvarezsaurs from this formation include Haplocheirus and possibly Aorun).[1] Its affinities to alvarezsaurs has subsequently been questioned.[2]

  1. ^ Qin, Zichuan; Clark, James; Choiniere, Jonah; Xu, Xing (2019). "A new alvarezsaurian theropod from the Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of western China". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 11727. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48148-7. PMC 6692367.
  2. ^ Agnolín, Federico L.; Lu, Jun-Chang; Kundrát, Martin; Xu, Li (2022-03-04). "Alvarezsaurid osteology: new data on cranial anatomy". Historical Biology. 34 (3): 443–452. doi:10.1080/08912963.2021.1929203. ISSN 0891-2963.