Patagonykus
Extinct genus of dinosaurs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patagonykus (meaning "Patagonian claw") is a genus of alvarezsauroid theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Argentina. It was discovered in exposures of the Portezuelo Formation (Turonian-Coniacian) of the Rio Neuquén Subgroup in the Neuquén Basin, Neuquén Province. The holotype consists of an incomplete but well-preserved skeleton, lacking a skull, but including many vertebrae, the coracoids, a partial forelimb, pelvic girdle, and hindlimbs. Patagonykus has been classed with the Alvarezsauridae, a family which includes such taxa as the Mongolian Mononykus and the also Argentinian Alvarezsaurus. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 1 meter (3.3 ft) and its weight at 3.5 kilograms (7.7 lb).[1]
| Patagonykus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Reconstructed skeleton | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Superfamily: | †Alvarezsauroidea |
| Clade: | †Patagonykinae |
| Genus: | †Patagonykus Novas, 1996 |
| Species: | †P. puertai |
| Binomial name | |
| †Patagonykus puertai Novas, 1996 | |
Classification
Agnolin et al. (2012) originally placed Patagonykus within Alvarezsauridae, within the clade Patagonykinae as sister taxon to Bonapartenykus.[2] Makovicky, Apesteguía and Gianechini (2012) found it to be in a polytomy with Alnashetri, Bonapartenykus, and a clade containing more deeply nested taxa such as Linhenykus, Mononykus and Albinykus.[3] However, Xu et al. (2018) positioned it as a basal Alvarezsauroidea, sister taxon to Patagonykus and Achillesaurus, which was also recovered by Fowler et al. (2020).[4][5] Patagonykus has also been recovered as sister taxon to Bonapartenykus and Alvarezsauridae by Qin et al. (2019), and sister taxon to only Patagonykus outside of Alvarezsauridae by Averianov & Lopatin (2022a) and Averianov & Lopatin (2022b).[6][7][8]
A phylogenetic analysis conducted by Fowler et al. (2020) is reproduced below.[5]
The results of an earlier analysis by Agnolin et al. (2012) are reproduced below.[2]
| Alvarezsauridae |
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