Alvarezsauridae
Sign in to saveAlso known as Alvarezsaurid, Alvarezsaurids
Alvarezsauridae is a family of small, long-legged dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, they are now thought to be an early diverging branch of maniraptoran theropods. Alvarezsaurids were highly specialized. They had tiny but stout forelimbs, with compact, bird-like hands. Their skeletons suggest that they had massive breast and arm muscles, possibly adapted for digging or tearing. They had long, tube-shaped snouts filled with tiny teeth. They have been interpreted as myrmecophagous, adapted to prey on colonial insects such as termites, with t
Wikidata facts
- Parent taxon
- Alvarezsauroidea
- Image
- Patagonykus.jpg
Show 7 more facts
- taxon name
- Alvarezsauridae
- Commons category
- Alvarezsauroidea
- taxon rank
- family
- topic's main category
- Category:Alvarezsaurids
- start time
- 86000000-0
- end time
- 66000000-0
- time period
- Late Cretaceous
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- History of study
- Description
- Feathers
- Lifestyle
- Classification
- References
- External links
Alvarezsauridae is a family of small, long-legged dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, they are now thought to be an early diverging branch of maniraptoran theropods. Alvarezsaurids were highly specialized. They had tiny but stout forelimbs, with compact, bird-like hands. Their skeletons suggest that they had massive breast and arm muscles, possibly adapted for digging or tearing. They had long, tube-shaped snouts filled with tiny teeth. They have been interpreted as myrmecophagous, adapted to prey on colonial insects such as termites, with the short arms acting as effective digging instruments to break into nests. This has however been contested.
Alvarezsaurus, the type genus of the family, was named after the historian and physician Gregorio Álvarez.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Alvarezsauridae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.