Alvarezsaurus
| Alvarezsaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous
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| Family: | Alvarezsauridae
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| Genus: | Alvarezsaurus Bonaparte, 1991
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A. calvoi Bonaparte, 1991 (type) | |
Alvarezsaurus is a small dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina, about 86–83 million years ago. It measured about two meters in length and weighed 20 kilograms.
It was named by paleontologist Jose Bonaparte in 1991. It walked on two legs, had a long tail, and its leg structure suggests that it was a fast runner.[1] It may have eaten insects. It was more basal than other, better-known, members of its family, such as Mononykus and Shuvuuia.
In popular culture
[change | change source]Alvarezsaurus was featured in the Discovery Channel television series Dinosaur Planet. It was shown as a predator of young Saltasaurus, although these species did not exist at the same time. Alvarezsaurus lived about five million years before Saltasaurus.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Paul, Gregory S. 2010. The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, p126.
